shadow of the raven

Cats on fire

2010-07-01T14:51:00.003-04:00

For some readers, sleuthing felines are the cat's whiskers. There's Midnight Louis, Koko and Yum Yum, Mrs. Murphy and Joe Gray and Duclie -- and those are just the tip of hairball when it comes to detective cats.

If you don't believe that cats can solve a mystery, then you probably read works that feature a cuddly (or not) kitty companion like Sweetums, or Boy Cat Zukas, or Macavity or any of Marian Babson's feline friends from Errol and Esmond to Pandora and Monty.

If, like me, you live with a cat but give it little hope of ever solving a more weighty problem than becoming disentangled from a piece of string, then cat tales leave you cold as yesterday's cod.

Editor and publisher Otto Penzler is often misquoted as saying that he would never publish a book that featured recipes or cats, unless it was recipes for cats. He never said or wrote that. However, in his forward to Hardcore Hardboiled, Penzler said of its content: "You do not expect stories about vicars, rose gardens, tea, clothes shopping, recipes or cats (unless maybe the recipe's essential ingredient is a cat)."

But I digress.

Cats are a big deal in the mystery world and I had yet to warm to fictional fur until now. Nick Smith's Milk Treading is the story of a journalist cat named Julius Kyle, reporter for the Scratching Post, the main daily for the city of Bast, which just happens to be populated by cats.

Julius, a curious cat indeed, encounters gangs of teen cats scratching for territory, political intrigue and the love of a good feline. Julius is also the author of The Kitty Killer Cult, a mystery featuring the character Tiger Straight, and soon his real life begins to parallel his fictional one as a lone cat just trying to keep itself clean and beat a milk addiction.

Told with an edge as hard as Hammett slightly softened by the whimsy of a fairytale, this 2003 book, published in paperback by Luath Press out of Scotland, is a fun, freaky read. Next on my list: The Kitty Killer Cult by Julius Kyle (also from Luath).

Cats writing about cats. What a world.

Pulp friction

2010-06-29T16:10:00.004-04:00

Marines were named "teufel hunden," or devil dogs, by German fighters in WWI after the Battle of Belleau Wood. Devil Dog (subtitled: The Amazing True Story of the Man Who Saved America) is the aptly named inaugural book in the Pulp History series coming in October from Simon & Schuster (Shadow Nights: The Secret War Against Hitler follows in November).

You might not think of Smedley Darlington Butler as being the moniker for a tough guy, but this award-winning Marine major general garnered a whole heap of awards: two Medals of Honor, a Marine Corps Brevet Medal, Army Distinguished Service Medal, Navy Distiguished Service Medal and the French Order of the Black Star.

Devil Dog follows Butler's military career (he went to war at the age of 16) through the Spanish-American War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Banana Wars, the occupation of Haiti, the Mexican Revolution, World War I, and other major and minor skirmishes. And as his military career progressed, Butler became more embittered and disillusioned with U.S. Imperialism and with the men who sent the soldiers out to die. In his 1935 book War Is a Racket, Butler described the reasons we go to war as having more to do with banks and business than with governments.

How did Butler save America? Would you believe exposing a fascist coup, a Wall Street plot to overthrow the president? That, and its bizarre investigation, are to be found in his post military years, along with his run for senate, his anti-prohibition fervor and his campaign to rid the streets of Philadelphia of bootleggers, bandits and b-girls.

Devil Dog, written by David Talbot with illustrations by Spain Rodriguez, is a fast-paced read supported by photographs, cartoon strips and newspaper clippings. Its pulpiness is redolent in its man-of-action main character, exotic locals, provocative situations, jingoistic attitudes and the occasional line scripted of purple prose.

The Girl Who Satirized Larsson

2010-06-28T10:27:00.004-04:00

How popular is the Steig Larsson trilogy? Since I'm in the mystery book business, I don't know of many who have not dipped a tentative toe into his cold, brutal waters. His books are best sellers; they're our numbers one, two and three. Customers are asking for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo DVDs (out July 6), so most of the people I run into have read him, are reading him or have his titles piled precariously on their nightstand in anticipation of reading him.

But when Nora Ephron writes a short, witty piece for The New Yorker that skewers the series' excesses and its readers' frustrations, the series must be well enough known by just about everyone...or, at least, a bit above the hoi polloi and into the consciously fashionable elite.

For those who love the series (or who love to hate it), click on the link below:

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2010/07/05/100705sh_shouts_ephron

Crime writing as an art

2010-06-25T11:30:00.004-04:00

There's a great article about mystery writing and its literary merits in London's The Guardian today. It focuses on Peter Temple and his wonderful new book, Truth. Anyone interested in the excellence of crime fiction should check it out.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jun/25/miles-franklin-booker-prize-crime

Reading group

2010-06-22T11:00:00.006-04:00

It's always interesting to me to see what people choose to read ... and why.

Recently, a local book club decided that, after reading Dostoevsky, that they were looking for something a little lighter yet literary for their summer read. I collected a half dozen titles and went through them with several group members. I mentioned the usual suspects: Possession by A. S. Byatt, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Case Histories by Kate Atkinson, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco and The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.

But what sold them on a book (none of the above) was the cover art and title: Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin. The medieval thriller is, of course, bloody and perverse...still I'm not one to talk anyone out of anything they might want to read. Besides, it's a great novel, well researched and well written, serving up enough surprises to please any mystery reader's palate.

I just have the nagging feeling in the back of my neck that I will hear from someone in the group who expected a more refined tale. We shall see.

Meanwhile, if you are part of a book group that discovered a recent or little known mystery you might suggest. Please let us know by clicking on Comments below.

A is for Amish

2010-06-20T13:36:00.004-04:00

Kate Burkholder is back in Linda Castillo's latest, Pray for Silence.

Fans of Sworn to Silence, in which Chief of Police Kate Burkholder hunted down a serial killer, will find this second case just as riveting as Kate must discover who murdered an entire Amish family and possible prevent more carnage in this closed community.

New arrivals from Lancaster, Penn., the Plank family has joined the small Amish community of Painters Mill only to be slaughtered on their farm. There are few cluse, no suspects and no motives, which makes local residents anxious and Kate, no stranger to Amish life, knows that this crime is extraordinary in its execution.

What may or may not help in solving the case is the discovery of a diary that belonged to one of the dead teenaged daughters, a book filled with dark secrets and illicit rendezvous. Who was this man the young girl was meeting or are these killings a case of revenge?

While Kate's on-again-off-again relationship with John Tomasetti seems off again for the moment, Tomasetti arrives in Painters Mill to offer assistance, doing so at the risk of his own job back in the state capitol. There are a lot of ghosts from the past that both Kate and Tomasetti have to face before they can begin to get a handle on this unspeakable crime. And once they do, the danger level hightens.

Castillo immerses us in the world of the Amish, and Pray for Silence serves up an intriguing puzzle that moves at an increasing speed and offers several surprises.

Nordic nights

2010-06-19T10:21:00.006-04:00

So you've savored every last morsel of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and are looking for something Scandanavian to get you through the long hot summer. Luckily Steig Larsson isn't the only Nordic novelist out there, but merely one amid a rich menu to choose from.

My first journey to long winter nights was in the mysteries by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. This Swedish husband and wife duo was writing in the 1960s and gave

us a host of Martin Beck stories, the most familiar probably being The Laughing Policeman. The first in the series, Roseanna, was reissued last year and many others in the series have followed. These books are a great place to start your search for a Swedish detective series.

Other Nordic writers currently available and worth more than just a cursory look:

Hennig Mankell is the writer who kicked the doors open for Swedish writers in modern-day America. His tales of Inspector Kurt Wallander (Sidetracked, One Step Behind, Firewall, among others) were recently aired on PBS' Masterpiece Mystery and starred Kenneth Branaugh. But don't stop there. The list of Swedes continues with: Ake Edwardson's Erik Winter series; Kjell Eriksson's Ann Lindell mysteries; Asa Larsson's Rebecka Marinsson stories; Hakan Nesser's Inspector Van Veeteren; and Helene Tursten's Irene Huss series.

Tales from Norway can also be found. Currently making waves is Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series. The Redbreast introduces Hole and a world of corrupt cops and neo-Nazi nasties. Currently available in America are Redbreast, Nemesis and The Devil's Star (The Redeemer and The Snowman can be found as British imports and will, no doubt, be published in America in short order). Two other Norweigan authors worth their weight in thrills are K.O. Dahl's Frank Frolich series and Karin Fossum's Inspector Sejer, who got on mystery readers' radar with The Indian Bride (fourth in the series).

And if you haven't already done so, you also will want to introduce yourself to Arnaldur Indridason's Reykjavick mysteries, in which there are never any easy answers and where life can be as unforgiving as Iceland's isolated, bleak landscape. Five novels are currently available on these shores, beginning with Jar City and the fourth, The Draining Lake, is newly released in paperback. The fifth in this series, Arctic Chill, is in hardcover and will be followed in Sept. by Hypothermia.

Other writers (with a limited number of titles and a growing number of fans) who should be on your radar: Camilla Lackberg, Karin Alvtegen, Mari Jungstedt and (if you can find any of her titles) Kerstin Ekman, whose 1995 mystery Blackwater.has only recently be reissued in England; with any luck we will see her name back again on American bookselves.

Beach read

2010-06-18T10:04:00.003-04:00

Come July 6 and we get Gregg Hurwitz's new thriller They're Watching...or, as it is titled in the UK: Or She Dies.

As always, Hurwitz knows how to execute a great setup -- just think of the opening of his Trust No One (due in paperback June 29). They're Watching also kicks off in high gear; it then boomerangs back 10 days to the time when part-time teacher/disgraced screenwriter Patrick Davis gets the first in a series of anonymous DVDs demonstrating that he is being closely watched. Who is watching? Well, it could be anyone from his libidinous next door neighbor to a self-centered actor to the litigious movie studio to the police to.... Well, you get the idea.

And since there is no end to the list of suspects, there is no end to the misery that Patrick Davis can suffer as he watches his marriage crumble and his academic life collapse...and those, as they say, are the good times. Soon Patrick is caught up in murder, nefarious government plots and scheming corporate activities...or is it something more personal?

This is not a murder mystery with a plot in which the suspects are all introduced early on and gathered into the library for a final solution. This, as with all Hurwitz's novels, is clockwork thriller timed with enough surprises to keep you guessing almost to the end. They're Watching is great summer reading with a popcorn sensibility; it knows it's an entertainment set on the fringes of Hollywood and it exploits all the whiz bang rollercoaster excitement of a Saturday matinee.

Sign of the times

2010-06-17T11:06:00.001-04:00

We like books.

We like to hold them, page through them and feel their heft. Each has its own personality.

With the onset of e-reading many are choosing to discard the uniqueness of a printed book in exchange for a digital library.

For book collectors the future appears bright. As more books get downloaded onto plastic display screens, printed titles become more scarce. Especially those signed by the author.

If you are not buying books in bookstores, you are not going where the signed copies are.

Of course, you can always track down your favorite authors and have them sign your e-reader, but for our money that doesn't seem like a good use of time.

The game's afoot

2010-06-15T10:35:00.007-04:00

Sherlockians of every stripe will want to attend Sherlock Holmes: The Man and His Words, a

conference held on the Bennington College campus in Bennington, Vermont June 24-27.

The conference serves as the 20th anniversary of the

Baker Street Breakfast Club and will also celebrate 100th anniversary of the first appearance Sherlock Holmes on stage in The Speckled Band at London's Adelphi Theatre.

The conference will feature exhibits, talks, panels, dinners, theater, films, tea and croquet, and vendors, among other events. There is a registration fee and admission/reservations required for some special events.

For more information, go to: www.bakerstreetbreakfastclub.com

and click on "conference information."

Another Summer of Masterpiece Mystery

2010-06-14T11:19:00.004-04:00

We are nearly half way into the Masterpiece Mystery season this year, so I guess it's time I got to it before the 2010 series is history.

This year kicked off with three new episode's Foyle's War, which means we've now covered May 1940 through August 1945 and, it would appear, the war is over...along with the series. If so, Michael Kitchen will be greatly missed.

Next came Miss Marple: The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side (really very good indeed) and two reruns (encore performances?): A Pocket Full of Rye and Murder Is Easy. In the weeks ahead, Miss Marple will find mystery in The Secret of Chimneys (June 20) and in The Blue Geranium (June 27), which features Sharon Small of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.

In July, David Suchet returns as Hercule Poirot (shown above left). He will take us on a homicide-free railway ride in David Suchet on the Orient Express (July 7), and in following weeks will appear as Poirot in Murer on the Orient Express (July 11), Third Girl (July 18), Appointment with Death (July 25) and as well as a rerun of Cat Among the Pigeons (Aug. 1).

The summer season is rounded out with eight Inspector Lewis stories beginning Aug. 8, with three repeats from last season: Allegory of Love (Aug. 8), The Quality of Mercy (Aug. 15) and The Point of Vanishing (Aug. 22). Joanna Lumley, who played Miss Marple's confidante in The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, plays an aging rock star in the first new entry, Counter Culture Blues (airing Aug. 29). Inspector Lewis runs through Sept. 26 (show titles and dates to be announced), so have a happy and murderous summer.

A funny thing happened on the way to the e-reader

2010-06-13T13:24:00.002-04:00

When it comes to e-readers, what do John Grisham, Janet Evanovich and James Patterson have in common? Yes, they are all top sellers...and, according to recent reports, they are the top three ripped-off authors when it comes to digital book theft.

J.K. Rowling, who has refused to release her Harry Potter series digitally, is also finding that "fans" are ripping her off by scanning her books and making pdf's to share with other "fans." Just like the music and film industries before them, publishers are quickly learning that they are losing control of their bread-and-butter authors.

Of course, publishers are now scrambling to safekeep their books but as long as they encourage e-reading, they will find that people will always opt for getting something for nothing instead of paying for it. And once people with digital book readers discover that the $9 they've been paying for a book will increase (a recent struggle between Kindle and MacMillan makes it inevitable), publishers can expect more electronic pilfering on the horizon.

'Steam' heat

2010-06-12T11:05:00.006-04:00

What with World Cup Soccer kicking off today in South Africa, it seemed like the right time to sing the praises of Soho Press, which just reissued The Steam Pig, James McClure's 1971 debut.

McClure, a native of Johannesburg, South Africa, became a British journalist. His first crime novel, The Steam Pig, changed everything for him; it won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger and, by 1974, McClure was writing mysteries full time. He returned to journalism in 1994 and kept at that until his death in 2006, but his eight South African mysteries featuring Afrikaner Lieutenant Tromp Kramer and Zulu Detective Sergeant Mickey Zondi hold a place in every mystery readers heart.

Speaking of hearts, in The Steam Pig a beautiful blonde is believed to have died from cardiac arrest. But nothing is ever simple in a murder mystery and it is soon discovered that she has been killed by a bicycle spoke puncture to the heart, a Bantu gangster murder method. And while the crime is intriguing, now after the dismantling of apartheid, the partnership of Kramer and Zondi proves to be even more fascinating; their relationship develops over the eight books and their two-different-worlds knowledge blends to make a strong team working in a society of twisted politics and racial separation.

The crime takes place in Trekkersburg and is based on McClure's hometown of Pietermaritzburg. The town is a "laager" or defensive encampment surrounded by armoured vehicles; the blacks are called "kaffirs” (an offensive word, not dissimilar to our n-word); and, among the Afrikaners, the English are hated. This is a town of Dutch descent and Lieutenant Kramer is a member of murder and robbery squad. He's a Boer and a believer in the supremacy of the white race. Zondi is a sergeant and is committed to his job, but faces the perils of apartheid as well as the danger his profession brings him.

South Africa has change, the world that McClure knew is gone but not forgotten; The Steam Pig offers a chilling look into apartheid. In a world where attempting to pass for white is a crime, there are few safe places to hide. The Steam Pig immerses you in that world and offers a thrilling story besides. As the New York Times Book Review said of it , “James McClure's first novel arrives like a slam in the kidneys . . ." Four decades later, that punch remains strong.

Next month, Soho will reissue the second in the Kramer and Zondi series, The Caterpillar Cop. Each is available in paperback at $14.

New imprint worth knowing about

2010-06-11T11:38:00.006-04:00

While I have to admit that I haven't read every title from Tyrus Books, those that I have read were impressive indeed.

Last fall Tyrus kicked off its publishing venture with Peter Gadol's Silver Lake (a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award) and Between the Dark and the Daylight, a massive short story collection with pieces by Michael Connelly, Joyce Carol Oates and Charlaine Harris, among many more. Came the spring and we got the hilarious serial killer thriller Hello Kitty Must Die, the short story collection Delta Blues (with works by John Grisham, James Lee Burke, Ace Atkins and other) and now another winner in Stein, Stoned (set for release July 1).

Stein, Stoned by screenwriter and UCLA professor Hal Ackerman mixes marijuana and murder in a giddy mystery of a dead fashion model, stolen shampoo bottles and disappearing cannabis. As the aging, divorced, pot-deprived Harry Stein stumbles into one seemingly unrelated situation after another, we get insight into the muddled mind of this aging hippie at the end of the last millenium. Stein, Stoned introduces a winning cast of characters and is the beginning of what may be a winning series of reefer-riffing, "soft-boiled" murder mysteries.

Other writers of note in Tyrus' writing stable include Victor Gischler, Michael Lister, Mary Logue and Lynn Kostoff. Of interest to many here in the Northeast will be the August 2010 publication of Randal Peffer's Listen to the Dead, the fifth installment in the Cape Islands series. This tale of drugs, sex and murder is inspired by the unsolved 1988 serial killings in New Bedford, Mass. Fans of Bangkok Dragons, Cape Cod Tears won't want to miss that one.

In the fall, Moe Prager returns in a new novel from Reed Farrel Coleman, titled Innocent Monster (Note: Come September, Busted Flush will bring us Coleman's Soul Patch and Empty Ever After in paperback), and Amos Walker: The Complete Story Collection, offering 600-plus pages of Loren D. Estleman's Detroit detectve.

I can't wait.

No Country for Old Men

2010-06-10T13:10:00.003-04:00

Sure, you might think that the above title refers to the great Cormac McCarthy novel, but you would be wrong.

The Interwebs with its series of tubes, it appears to me, is no country for old men...or at least not for me. After months of trying to sign on to this website...off and on as my patience allowed...I am finally back. Simple questions like password and account name eluded me, like a feathery morning mist fading in a Connecticut Valley sunrise. Each time I tried to log on, I was lumbered.

Finally, my wife (who calmly bears with me ... and, it should be noted, with nary a complaint) asked if she could help. I, in great frustration and suffering admitted defeat, said, "Please."

Zip-zap, a few strokes of the keyboard...and I'm back. So, beginning tomorrow we will return to the discussion of books and publishing and anything else that comes to a mind that scarcely functions at the best of times.

Writer Dick Francis dies

2010-02-14T14:15:00.001-05:00

It was announced today that author Dick Francis died in the Cayman Islands; he was 89. Francis, who had written 40 bestselling mysteries and won a host of awards, including two Edgars, was a champion jockey before he began writing his mysteries with a racing background.

For more information, go to:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article7026693.ece

Waiting for Lefty

2010-01-26T14:58:00.008-05:00

Here we are only at the end of January and the award nominations keep on coming. Latest is the announcement for the 2010 Lefty Awards given by Left Coast Crime, which will be held March 11-14 at the Omni Hotel in Los Angeles. The Lefty is awarded to the most humorous mystery of last year.

The Lefty Award for Humorous Mystery

Swan for the Money by Donna Andrews

Living With Your Kids Is Murder by Mike Befeler

Strangle a Loaf of Italian Bread by Denise Dietz

Getting Old Is a Disaster by Rita Lakin

High Crimes on the Magical Plane by Kris Neri

The Bruce Alexander Award for Historical Mystery

Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander

In a Gilded Cage by Rhys Bowen

A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell

Freedom’s Fight by Gary Phillips

Serpent in the Thorns by Jeri Westerson

The Panik Award for LA Noir (in honor of the late Paul Anik)

Cemetery Road Gar Anthony Haywood

Trust No One by Gregg Hurwitz

Death Was in the Picture by Linda Richards

Boulevard by Stephen J. Schwartz

For infomation, go to:

http://www.leftcoastcrime.org/

Spenser creator Robert B. Parker dies

2010-01-19T13:16:00.005-05:00

It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of Cambridge (Mass.)-based writer Robert B. Parker at the age of 77. Over 37 novels featuring Boston P.I. Spenser, Parker rejuvenated the hardboiled detective novel. He also wrote series featuring Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone, westerns featuring Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch, as well as young adult and non-fiction pieces.

His most recent Spenser novel is The Professional, and Split Image, his new Jesse Stone novel, is due out Feb. 1.

Parker was a remarkable writer and will be sorely missed.

The 2010 Edgar Award Nominees

2010-01-19T13:06:00.006-05:00

Mystery Writers of America has announced its nominees for the 2010 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, which honor the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction and television published or produced in 2009. The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners April 29, 2010 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.

BEST NOVEL
The Missing by Tim Gautreaux (Random House - Alfred A. Knopf)
The Odds by Kathleen George (Minotaur Books)
The Last Child by John Hart (Minotaur Books)
Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston (Random House - Ballantine Books)
Nemesis by Jo Nesbø, translated by Don Bartlett (HarperCollins)
A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn (Simon & Schuster – Atria Books)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano (Grand Central Publishing)
Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley (Simon & Schuster - Touchstone)
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf (MIRA Books)
A Bad Day for Sorry by Sophie Littlefield (Minotaur Books – Thomas Dunne Books)
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke (HarperCollins)
In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff (Minotaur Books)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)
Havana Lunar by Robert Arellano (Akashic Books)
The Lord God Bird by Russell Hill (Pleasure Boat Studio – Caravel Books)
Body Blows by Marc Strange (Dundurn Press – Castle Street Mysteries)
The Herring-Seller’s Apprentice by L.C. Tyler (Felony & Mayhem Press)

BEST FACT CRIME
Columbine by Dave Cullen (Hachette Book Group - Twelve)
Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Jeff Guinn (Simon & Schuster)
The Fence: A Police Cover-Up Along Boston’s Racial Divide by Dick Lehr (HarperCollins)
Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo (The Penguin Press)
Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa by R.A. Scotti (Random House - Alfred A. Knopf)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
Talking About Detective Fiction by P.D. James (Random House - Alfred A. Knopf)
The Lineup: The World’s Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives edited by Otto Penzler (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company)
Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King by Lisa Rogak (Thomas Dunne Books)
The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith by Joan Schenkar (St. Martin’s Press)
The Stephen King Illustrated Companion by Bev Vincent (Fall River Press)

BEST SHORT STORY
"Last Fair Deal Gone Down" – Crossroad Blues by Ace Atkins (Busted Flush Press)
"Femme Sole" – Boston Noir by Dana Cameron (Akashic Books)
"Digby, Attorney at Law" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Jim Fusilli (Dell Magazines)
"Animal Rescue" – Boston Noir by Dennis Lehane (Akashic Books
"Amapola" – Phoenix Noir by Luis Alberto Urrea (Akashic Books)

BEST JUVENILE
The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity by Mac Barnett (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour by Michael D. Beil (Random House Children’s Books – Alfred A. Knopf)
Closed for the Season by Mary Downing Hahn (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Books)
Creepy Crawly Crime by Aaron Reynolds (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer (Penguin Young Readers Group – Philomel Books)

BEST YOUNG ADULT
Reality Check by Peter Abrahams (HarperCollins Children’s Books – HarperTeen)
If the Witness Lied by Caroline B. Cooney (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)
The Morgue and Me by John C. Ford (Penguin Young Readers Group – Viking Children’s Books)
Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone by Dene Low (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Books)
Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
“Place of Execution,” Teleplay by Patrick Harbinson (PBS/WGBH Boston)
“Strike Three” – The Closer, Teleplay by Steven Kane (Warner Bros TV for TNT)
“Look What He Dug Up This Time” – Damages, Teleplay by Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler & Daniel Zelman (FX Networks)
“Grilled” – Breaking Bad, Teleplay by George Mastras (AMC/Sony)
“Living the Dream” – Dexter, Teleplay by Clyde Phillips (Showtime)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD
"A Dreadful Day" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Dan Warthman (Dell Magazines)

GRAND MASTER
Dorothy Gilman

RAVEN AWARDS
Mystery Lovers Bookshop, Oakmont, Pennsylvania
Zev Buffman, International Mystery Writers’ Festival

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD
Poisoned Pen Press (Barbara Peters & Robert Rosenwald)

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
Awakening by S.J. Bolton (Minotaur Books)
Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof by Blaize Clement (Minotaur Books)
Never Tell a Lie by Hallie Ephron (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
Lethal Vintage by Nadia Gordon (Chronicle Books)
Dial H for Hitchcock by Susan Kandel (HarperCollins)

It's a steal

2009-12-21T11:32:00.007-05:00

There have been a number of articles recently on stolen books...that is, the books people steal from bookstores. I'm not sure why people steal anything, and I'm more unsure as to why anyone would steal a book. Books, at least to this bookseller, are sacred and should never be stolen, abused, burned or even have their corners bent to mark a page -- that is what a bookmark is for.

Book stealers are usually book resellers, usually on a street corner (if in a large metro area), a flea market or to an unscrupulous bookstore that buys stolen merchandise. Over the past 40 years, I've worked in bookstores only to learn that no book is impossible to heist. A pile of Herman Wouk's "War and Remembrance" took a hike one afternoon with a fellow who simply put his raincoat around a stack and walked out of one Manhattan store. We found him hawking them two blocks away for $2 a pop. I have also handed a customer an expensive book, turned my back for a moment and ... poof!...he was gone; I caught up with him a couple minutes ... and blocks ... later.

An article in the London Times earlier this year had a bookseller claiming that London A-Z was the most stolen book in the world. Maybe for him, or for his time selling books, but I'd like to see proof. Maybe it only holds true if you sell books in London, but I'd think it would be the Harry Potter books in England.

I put the whole book-stealing thing on '60s radical Abbie Hoffman who titled his tome Steal This Book, thereby encouraging rampant bibliocrime.

Of course, if one were to steal a book you'd think it would be something rare and valuable -- some first edition of some antique manuscript that was worth a fortune. But in my experience, the most-often pilfered book is the Holy Bible (King James version). Whether it has been from a small independent or a large chain store, it always seems that the most taken is the (supposedly) most sacred.

One wonders whether the people who steal bibles actually get around to reading them,. They might want to check out Exodus 20: 2-17. There are a bunch of Thou Shall Nots they should probably become acquainted with.

Fen for yourself

2009-12-17T13:04:00.003-05:00

It seems that everybody wants to know what the latest and greatest mystery books are...and here I sit reading Edmund Crispin's The Moving Toyshop, the third book in the Gervase Fen series. While I rave that The Girl Who Played With Fire is the most exciting book of the year, I have to admit that Crispin's 1946 entertainment remains a corker.

While the mystery (about a poet who stumbles upon a body in a toy shop only to return with the police to discover the body gone and the toy shop nonexistent) is clever enough (think Bryant and May at its most droll), it is decidedly an entertainment, one in which Crispin even breaks the "fourth wall" -- while locked in a closet, Fen speculates on what title Crispin will give this new adventure and comes up with several possibilities that place him in an heroic light.

Crispin, who wrote his first Fen mystery while he was still an undergraduate at Oxford, is so funny and so fey that one expects his novels to offer guest appearances by Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves. While he was a composer (he did music for the Carry On series, written under his real name Bruce Montgomery), book editor and crime fiction reviewer for the Sunday Times, it is for the Fen books that he is most remembered.

There are a total of nine delightful Gervase Fen novels and several dozen short stories. Felony and Mayhem Press has reissued six in the series so far, but The Moving Toyshop remains among the missing. Still, you can find it in some shops who have imported it (it is published by Vintage, a British imprint of Random House). It may not be a Christmas story but it certainly is a holiday treat.

Change of habit

2009-12-16T12:40:00.004-05:00

Once we dismiss the unfortunate cover of this week's Publisher's Weekly -- Afro Picks!, which features an African-American model wearing a forest of afro picks displaying Black Power fists (o, my) -- and head inside the issue, it turns out that there is some good news for book lovers.

When I say "book lovers," I mean those people who actually have a fondness for real books with paper pages...i.e., traditional bound books, not plastic screens tailored to the tactile impaired. As reported in PW, Simon and Schuster has joined a growing number of publishers who are questioning the logic of publishing titles as books and e-books simultaneously.

Simon will delay several dozen e-book titles to give the paper-and-print variety some time on the shelves. HarperCollins and Hachette Book Group are also toying with different ways to save traditional printing from the fangs of discounted e-books.

While some are quoted in the article as saying that this kind of delay is what hurt the film industry, you don't see movies like Avatar or Blind Sided coming out on video the week they hit the big screen. Those who want to see the film immediately must go to a movie theater; others wait the three to six months before they can buy it (or rent it) from a video store.

Publishers need to protect their books, their authors and the industry. My suggestion to publishers: If you are going to retail an e-book for under $10, wait until it is published in mass market paperback form for under $10. Instead of caving in to the Nook and the Kindle, do the smart thing before people start copying book titles as easily as they share music.

Tempest in a 'Teaglass'

2009-12-15T13:02:00.005-05:00

Bibliophiles love mysteries, so what better mystery could there be than the tale of bibliophiles plunged into murder and romance? The Broken Teaglass is a wonderful find -- a literary mystery. Among the dusty files of a dictionary publishing house, editors pore over new entries and investigate meaning and origin. But it looks as if someone has left a cache of coded clues to an unsolved murder.

Author Emily Arsenault explores words and how we define ourselves, as coworkers Billy Webb and Mona Minot puzzle out a mystery of wit and intelligence.

And luckily, author Arensault recently dropped by to sign copies for the store.

Clash of the Titans

2009-10-19T11:15:00.005-04:00

Wal-Mart and Amazon have declared war by offering books for sale well below wholesale prices. You'd think that the small retail store would be wise to duck for cover.

Looking for the latest John Grisham book (Ford County, out Nov. 3)? The book retails for $24 and you can pre-order it online from both companies for a paltry $9. Since the average mom-and-pop bookstore pays approximately $15 for the same book (plus shipping), they could be left out in the cold. The forthcoming James Patterson I, Alex Cross book priced at $27.99 is available at the same $9 rate. And Stephen King's Under The Dome is an even better deal: $35 retail, $9 online at Wal-Mart and Amazon (a savings of 75 percent).

As an independent bookseller, I probably shouldn't be letting people know where they can get these book deals. But the fact is that this book fire sale won't effect our store much because these are not authors who sell well in an independent store. These are authors whose books are sold by the truckload in supermarkets and drug stores, Wal-Marts and Costcos...and Barnes & Nobles and Borders (who will probably feel the pinch in this clash of the titans). Most likely, I will sell only one or two John Grisham books while the Stephen King book may or may not sell at all. I don't even bother to buy James Patterson books for our shop; he may be a brand name writer but his sales do little or nothing for an independent shop like ours, unless he shows up to do a book signing.

November is a difficult month for many book stores and both Amazon and Wal-Mart probably feel the pinch too, so maybe they've decided to do "loss leaders" to get people onto their web sites and, while they are shopping for their book bargains, possibly buy more. It will be interesting to see how long this price cutting lasts (can Amazon continue to sell books below the price of a Kindle download that, many suspect, is well below their costs already?).

These mass discounts may be good for the bottom line, but they cheapen both the book publishers and the authors they publish. Still, the giants will do what they do best: sell popular fiction, widgets or cans of peas by the caseload. Those of us who love books will continue to look for talented new authors and promote them by word-of-mouth one at a time.

Wish us luck.

2009-10-01T12:04:00.003-04:00

Gunther goes gunning

Lovers of police procedurals will find much to enjoy in Archer Mayor's The Price of Malice, the 20th investigation headed by Joe Gunther of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation.

After a man is found brutally murdered in Brattleboro, Vermont, the killer remains at large. But it soon develops that the murdered man is a suspected child predator tangled in a network of an extended family living in a local trailer park. Any member of the clan would have had the opportunity to kill him, and, as he was involved with both the mother and her 12-year-old daughter, reason to commit the murder. At the same time, Gunther has learned that his girlfriend Lyn’s fisherman father and brother, believed lost at sea off the coast of Maine, might have actually been murdered.

Lyn returns to Maine to investigate while Gunther periodically puts his on-going murder investigation on hold—irritating his colleagues and angering his bosses —to go and help Lyn in Maine. Torn between his conscience and his heart, a murder investigation and a personal search for the truth, Gunther finds that betrayal and loyalty are often a matter of viewpoint. This is another fine entry into the series, bringing to the fore some of the secondary characters who have been a part of Joe's career over the years. Fans of the irascible Willy Kunkle will be especially pleased, because whenever Willy's on the case the dialogue between him and his associates catches fire.

Basically, The Price of Malice offers solid detective work written by one of the best in the business.

2009-09-29T13:48:00.003-04:00

O Death, where is thy sting?

Death comes to us all, but the way we die varies. This Will Kill You: A Guide to the Ways in Which We Go enumerates 75 different ways that people annually kick the bucket. From a Great White Shark attack to anthrax, from going over Niagra Falls in a barrel to being slimed by a dart frog, authors H.P. Newquist and Rich Maloof catalog our road to dusty death.

The book rates each death for frequency (only one or two people a year is eaten by an alligator), lethality (maybe you can escape being totally eaten and just get chewed up a bit) and its horror factor (the alligator thing is thought to be quite terrifying). You even get an urban legend or two, like the one about the Boy Scout Troop that was wiped out from toasting marshmallows over a fire made of oleander leaves.

There is a forward by a doctor from the Mayo Clinic, so one suspects that the science is right. It's easy to pick up and put down (each death is covered in two to three pages), so you may want to leave a copy in the bathroom this Halloween. Anyway, at $14.95 it's a cool read.

2009-09-25T10:38:00.004-04:00

Fictional author's fiction
Cabot Cove's Jessica B. Fletcher has a long string of mysteries to her name, and we don't mean the novels mentioned on the show Murder She Wrote. And although the show never mentions author Donald Bain, it's pretty much an open secret that he's the brains behind such novels as The Corpse Danced at Midnight and Mystery of the Mutilated Minion, for which Fletcher has been credited through her publisher New American Library. (Bain has written a host of novels under his name and others, and there are some who claim he actually wrote all of Margaret Truman's books, although Bain has denied that.)

Now comes another fictional fiction writer to the mystery world: Richard Castle. You may have caught him on the TV show Castle where he is a consultant for the NYPD. Anyway, Castle, so the story goes, has just killed off his popular fictional detective Derek Storm and is now researching a new series. The result is the just-released Heat Wave, available in bookstores from Hyperion Press. It follows the exploits of NYPD's Nikki Heat who, Castle fans might recognize, is based on Detective Kate Beckett, one of that show's main characters. (The book is dedicated "To the extraordinary KB and all my friends at the 12th" (precinct, that is).

Heat Wave has a blurb by James Patterson (don't most books get those?) who along with Stephen J. Cannell (with blurb on back cover) have appeared on Castle as themselves as Castle's poker game buddies. Now, the real game begins as fans of the show speculate who actually wrote Heat Wave. (Note: Fans of Nathan Fillion, who plays Richard Castle on the show, will be pleased to hear that there is a large, color photo of the actor on the back cover. Now, if we could just get him to do some author appearances -- that would be awesome.)

2009-09-24T10:59:00.004-04:00

Reading redux

Like most people with favorite authors who are no longer writing, I like to go back every few years and reacquaint myself with their work. It not only helps me in my job by reminding me what is good out there, but it also informs me what is gone. Take Ross Thomas, for example.

The fact that he was a great novelist, writing 26 witty thrillers in as many years, doesn't come into play: Most of his work is no longer in print. Reprints of what is still available attest to his powers: Introductions to his stories are written by Sara Paretsky, Donald E. Westlake and Lawrence Block, among others (no slouches in the writing department themselves). And I guess we should be thankful that Twilight at Mac's Place and The Fools in Town Are on Our Side remain available, along with his Edgar winners, Briarpatch and Cold War Swap.

But after re-reading Chinaman's Chance and Out of the Rim, both featuring con artists Artie Wu and Quincy Durant, one logically wants to move on to their third adventure, Voodoo Ltd. However, moving on is itself limited because the third in the trio is o.p. And after you've read the two Mac McCorkle and Michael Padillo books available (Cold War and Mac's Place), you'd expect to fill in with the other two: Cast a Yellow Shadow and The Backup Men. And if you are hunting for a St.Ives novel, forget them: All five are nowhere to be seen.

While I applaud St. Martin's Press for making a third of Thomas' oeuvre available, I'd like to also make a plea to some enterprising publisher out there. If you are looking to do some great reprints, think of Thomas. I, for one, will be eternally grateful.

2009-09-22T14:12:00.003-04:00

Talking mystery

The annual New England Crime Bake, sponsored by the New England chapters of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, will be held Nov. 13-15 at the Dedham/Boston Hilton. This year's guest of honor is Sue Grafton, whose latest alphabetical entry U is for Undertow goes on sale Dec. 1.

As usual, there will be agents to meet (if you are a writer), author breakfasts (if you like authors or eating) and master classes (if you want to write and are just learning how). There will also be seminars, manuscript critiques (for those who've finished their tome), a cocktail party, some mystery theater and a forensic presentation.

Go to: www.crimebake.org for details, fees, times, etc.

2009-09-21T17:05:00.006-04:00

Some pooch
I'm not a great fan of mystery books featuring talking cats. Truth to tell, I'm not a great fan of cats, in general, although I share a house with two and we seem to tolerate each other...mostly.

So, when I picked up a copy of Spencer Quinn's Dog On It, a tale of murder narrated by a talking pooch, I didn't have much hope for it. After reading the first chapter, I put it aside and went on to other books. A couple of months on, I picked up Dog On It again ... and, dog gone it, I found it to be a delight. The story of Chet (he's the dog) and Bernie (he's a human) in search of a missing girl and getting mixed up with the Russian mob is entirely engaging.

Quinn, known in other circles as Peter Abrahams (The Fan, Delusion), ladles his tale with large dollops of suspense and a healthy sprinkling of humor. I can't wait for the next one.

In the meantime, Dog On It gets its paperback release on Sept. 29, and all we can say to you is "fetch"!

2009-09-20T15:37:00.003-04:00

Wally the Mart strikes again

Just when you thought that life at an independent bookstore couldn't get any tougher, out comes Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. Not that the book is a problem, or even Mr. Brown or his publisher. No, it's the wonderful world of discounting that is eat into your neighborhood bookstore a surely as a mouse can gnaw through a flaking classic.

For months, Amazon.com had been promoting The Lost Symbol at a discount of 42 percent, which is cheaper than your mom-and-pop bookshop can get it from a wholesaler. Then comes WalMart offering a whopping 52 percent off each copy...or well below the price that motley mom and pooped-out pop can buy it directly from the publisher.

So...what's an independent bookstore to do? Suck it up and remind you that as you bemoan the bookshops closing around you, remember that buying from your independent bookseller will go a long way toward keeping bookstores alive.

A side note: WalMart's current TV and web ads feature the game Monopoly. To our mind, that seems a bit redundant.

2009-05-21T10:54:00.002-04:00

Pug ugly

Oh, how I hate ebooks. Certainly the kindle is the greatest threat to publishing to come along in the past 100 years. Another problem is publishers: How can they produce a hardcover book that retails for $24.95 and turn around to let Amazon and the like sell it for $9.99. Publishers, in this case, are probably the greatest threat to publishing since ... well, the ebook.

I'm not sure why there is now a larger size ebook from kindle. It's bulkier and more expensive. It's plastic, beige and impersonal. You can take a paperback book to the beach without fear. Not so the the ebook: They hate sand and water, not to mention magnets, hot coffee, iced tea and a whole lot of other things. Drop a paperback in the tub and you are out $7.99; drop an ebook in the tub and you are out $300.

I guess I simply don't understand the appeal of these mass-produced I like the feel of paper, the progression of turning pages, the typography, the drop caps and so much more.

I'm not the only one. A recent article in Wired puts it very succinctly. ebooks are just ugly.

go to:

www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/05/e-book-design/

2009-02-24T11:20:00.003-05:00

A house tour is announced
Back in 1493 Greenway was established but it was until 1700 that the central part of the main house was built alongside Greenway Court. What's so interesting about Greenway? Well, back in 1938 a British writer named Agatha Christie bought the house, which became the family's summer house up until 1950.

Now Greenway will open to the public, complete with guide tours, country walks and special events. There's even a cottage on the property that you can let and an apartment in the main house that's also available (if you can get a reservation and have the money for the privilege).

Still, Greenway is a place of destination for all fans of the amazing Agatha. Not that it's the place where she wrote all of her books -- you'll have to travel to Turkey's Hotel Pera Palace, for example, to visit the room where she wrote "Murder on the Orient Express." Still, there's plenty of Christie around Greenway. She was born in Torquay and a plaque for the Agatha Christie Mile can be found at Torre Abbey in Torquay.

Greenway is in southwest England, north of Dartmoor and west of Brixham in Devon. It opens to the public Saturday.

For more information, go to the National Trust site at:

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-greenway

Or visit:

www.agathachristie.com

Off the page

2008-10-28T12:06:00.006-04:00

Oprah Winfrey, the megastar who once espouse buying books as a terrific idea and who increased her brand (i.e., profit) by promoting them, has called Kindle her "favorite new gadget."

The "gadget" comes from Amazon, the behemoth that has helped squash independent bookstores by selling books, often times, below the price that independent bookstores can purchase them.

Kindle, selling at the price of about 80 paperback books, is a soul-less plastic gadget that further erodes the case for good books. Oprah's plastic playmate would eliminate books -- designing, printing, binding -- and bookstores. It also would eliminate the jobs connected to each.

Just so Oprah knows. I've found a favorite new gadget too: the "off" button for my TV.

The blessing way

2008-10-27T10:13:00.002-04:00

Tony Hillerman, creator of Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee of the Navajo police, has died at the age of 83.

Hillerman first introduced Lt. Joe Leaphorn in 1970's The Blessing Way. Leaphorn was an experienced cop who didn't share in the Navajo traditional beliefs, although he had reverence for them. Jim Chee came along in 1978's People of Darkness; he was a Navajo shaman, or "hathaali." The two joined up in Skinwalkers in 1987, the first of many Hillerman bestsellers.

Hillerman will be sorely missed but leaves us with a legacy of more than 30 books.

Holmes is where the heart is

2008-10-23T14:34:00.006-04:00

With May 22, 2009 designated as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 150th anniversary, Sherlockiana will be the rage for the foreseeable future. Here's a quick look at what's in store (or will be in stores) in coming months.

In stores now: Execution of Sherlock Holmes: And Other New Adventures of the Great Detective by Donald Thomas, is the latest collection of pastiches. The Shadow of Reichenbach Falls is a retelling of the rise of Moriarty, and Holmes' tumble from the famous falls, all told from three different perspectives.
Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong: Reopening the Case of the Hound of the Baskervilles by Pierre Bayard reexamines Holmes' most famous case and finds the master's conclusions wanting. This will come as no surprise to those who have read his Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?: The Mystery Behind the Agatha Christie Mystery, in which the French psychoanalyst and literary scholar comes up with a new solution to that crime also.
Gaslight Grimoire: Fantastic Tales of Sherlock Holmes, an assemblage of 11 weird tales by the likes of Kim Newman and Barbara Hambly, sees Holmes on illogical ground in this collection of fantasy fiction. Moriarty by John Gardner brings the professor to American shores and on the rise as a vintage villain.

On the way:
Andrew Lycett's The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes: The Life and Times of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is reissued in paperback in November.
Sherlock Holmes' Guide to Life by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle hits stores in time for the holidays with a collection of quotes from the great detective and illustration from books, stage and screen.
Sherlock Holmes in America, an anthology of new stories edited by Martin H. Greenberg, arrives in March.
Mike Ashley's The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures comes back into print in May. The 1997 Carrol & Graf comes back courtesy of Skyhorse Publishing and the anthology features stories by Peter Tremayne, Edward D. Hoch, Michael Moorcock, Basil Copper and H.R.F. Keating, among others.

Of course, various versions of Doyle's own work will be on display, as well as movie tie-ins and new graphic novels.

New this week

2008-09-30T12:35:00.005-04:00

This week has a lot to offer mystery readers. Whether it's Deep South gentry, historical fiction or modern-day espionage, there's plenty of great reading in store.

Today
The Draining Lake by Arnuldur Indridason (Minatour, $24.95) When the water level of an Icelandic lake suddenly falls following an earthquake to reveal a skeleton half-buried in its sandy bed, Inspector Erlendur, Elinborg, and Sigurdur Oli look into the long-unsolved disappearance of a young, left-wing student during the Cold War.

The Tale of Briar Bank by Susan Wittig Albert (Berkley, $23.95) Beatrix Potter looks into the death of Mr. Wickstead who had recently discovered a treasure.

A Spoonful of Poison: An Agatha Raisin Mystery by M.C. Beaton (Minatour, $24.95) When poisoned jam shows up at a church festival booth, Agatha Raisin finds herself looking into murder.

The Catch by Archer Mayor (Minatour, $24.95) When a state trooper is killed during a routine traffic stop, Joe Gunther follows the trail of clues to a drug smuggling ring out of Canada.

Hell Bent by William Tapply (Minatour, $24.95) Attorney Brady Coyne takes on the case of a war vet after a woman from his past asks for help.

Coyote's Wife by Aimee and David Thurlo (Tor, $24.95) Ella Clah investigates an attack on a powerful Navajo politician's son.

Too Close To Home by Linwood Barclay (Bantam Dell, $22.00) Derek Cutter suddenly becomes the prime suspect in a small-town murder case.

Hounded to Death by Rita Mae Brown (Ballantine, $25.00) Sister Jane Arnold, Master of Foxhounds, finds herself caught up in a mystery involving the theft of a valuable hound and the disappearance of a wealthy pet food manufacturer.

The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss (Random, $26.00) A former spy for Washington during the Revolution follows a murder trail that leads to Alexander Hamilton and to rebellious whiskey-makers opposed to a tax on their products.

Oct. 1
Given Day by Dennis Lehane (William Morrow, $27.95) A 1919 Boston Police strike sets the stage for an epic tale of a family whose lives mirror the political unrest of an America.

Hardly Knew Her by Laura Lippman (William Morrow, $23.95) Baltimore private investigator Tess Monaghan returns in this compendium of the short stories.

O, you beautiful doll

2008-09-26T17:25:00.005-04:00

Declan Burke's The Big O (Harcourt, $24.00) is a noir hybrid of murder and merriment.

Burke handles a wide cast of characters including: a doctor's receptionist who picks up extra money through blackmail and the occasional convenience store robbery; a house painter whose main source of income is kidnapper for hire; a disgraced plastic surgeon with an ill-conceived scheme to make some quick money; and a bubbleheaded ex-con with violence on his mind. Oh, and did I mention the one-eyed dog?

The book hits the ground running as if Quentin Tarantino and Buster Keaton had a love child who could write. Burke (who's previous Eight-Ball Boogie is available only in an imported edition) has a fine ear for dialogue and a great sense for plotting. Peopled by second-rate criminals plotting third-rate schemes, it's inevitable that the worst-laid plans of these men fall apart with everyone converging for a bloodspattered finale ... and even that's amusing.

There have been few novelists who could plot tightly, create well-developed characters and write laugh-out-loud dialogue -- Burke is a welcome new addition.

Lightning strikes

2008-09-24T15:19:00.010-04:00

This has been a good year for narrative histories. In April we got Kate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective (a case that inspired the birth of detective fiction) and in May came Paula Uruburu's American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, the Birth of the "It" Girl, and the Crime of the Century (which undertook to look at Nesbit's life, loves and the murder of architect Sanford White).

For those with a penchant of reading crime and history (a la Devil in the White City) comes a new entrant: American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, Movie-making, and the Crime of the Century by Howard Blum (Crown Forum, $24.95). Yes, Crime of the Century appears in this title also; since the Sanford White case was in 1906, it was the first Crime of the Century, but the century was very, very young.

In American Lightning, Pulitzer Prize-winner Blum brings together numerous threads to weave a tapestry of America in the first decade of the 20th Century. In October of 1910, an explosion ripped through the offices of the Los Angeles Times, killing 23 workers. It was the culmination in a series of attacks that gripped the nation. This was a time of bomb-throwing anarchist, and war between labor and management. Detective William J. Burns, dubbed the "American Sherlock Holmes" by the Times of London, is brought in from Chicago to investigate. Was it union assassins or management goons who blew the building up? Before CSI, how did a detective work such a huge case? Burns' doggedness uncovers a nest of villains, but his success seems short lived as land swindlers, a mayoral election and the American labor movement muddy the waters.

Into this melting pot of players come filmmaker D.W. Griffith and attorney Clarence Darrow. Blum interlaces their lives through the investigation and trial, chronicling Griffith's rise, Darrow's fall and the birth of public relations.

American Lightning is a fascinating exploration of the birth of 20th century America, and it will be a welcome addition to any non-fiction lover's bookshelf.

This novel sounds super

2008-08-27T09:58:00.003-04:00

An unexpected meeting with his long-lost father thrusts Cal Harper into a high-stakes pursuit of an enigmatic weapon linked to a pair of murders--the killing of Cain in the Bible, and the murder that inspired the creation of the comic-book hero Superman. Say what?!

That, at any rate, is a quick summary of The Book of Lies, Brad Meltzer's lastest piece of suspense fiction. It's Meltzer's seventh piece of suspense fiction, in addition to writing for comic books Justice League of America and Green Arrow. Meltzer's earlier book, The Book of Fate, explored a modern-day conspiracy and a secret code devised by Thomas Jefferson. So if anyone is going to combine an historic artifact with the Man of Steel, Meltzer's the man. Think pitch meeting: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay meets The Da Vinci Code. Now you've got the idea.

A story that appeared recently in USA Today gives some historical background to both the book and the creation of Superman (see link below). For those of us who grew up with Supe and also embraced the book Men of Tomorrow, The Book of Lies looks like a great read.

For more information, go to:

http://www.thebookisreal.com/

For background, go to:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-08-25-superman-creators_N.htm?csp=34

On the shelves

2008-08-26T16:04:00.003-04:00

Another Tuesday, another day of top-notch releases:

Silks by Dick Francis and Felix Francis (Putnam, $25.95)
Barrister Geoffrey Mason finds himself caught in the middle of a sinister web of intimidation and danger when he reluctantly becomes involved in the case of jockey accused of killing a fellow steeplechase rider.

Fade Away by Harlan Coben (Dell, $22.00)
After the star player for the New Jersey Dragons disappears without a trace, sports agent Myron Bolitar takes the undercover assignment of his dreams--a position on the team.

The Laughter of Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters (William Morrow & Co., $25.95)
Irrepressible art historian Vicky Bliss finds her setting off on a wild chase to clear the name of her boyfriend, in this final appearance in the series.

Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs (Scribner, $25.95)
When a plumber discovers the remains of a murdered girl and various dark religious objects in the cellar of a client's house, Temperance Brennan is called in to investigate the case and finds her efforts challenged by vigilante upheavals against Wiccans and occultists.

Also, today in paperback:
Stone Cold by David Baldacci (Vision, 9.99)
Oliver Stone and his colleagues at the Camel Club find their efforts to protect a con artist from vengeful casino king Jerry Bagger challenged by a ruthless killer who targets Stone by threatening to reveal his mysterious past.

Ripley's game. Are you?

2008-08-25T12:42:00.004-04:00

Thomas Phelps Ripley's amoral life began in 1955 when Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley first hit bookselves. Orphaned and raised by an abusive aunt, Tom developed a set of skills -- forgery, lying, impersonation -- that would set him off onto a successful life of crime, including identity theft, art forgery and murder. Such a sweet boy.

Highsmith followed her bad boy for 36 years, chronicling his dastardly doings and double dealings through a series of four additional books: Ripley Underground, Ripley's Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley and Ripley Under Water.

In October, W.W. Norton will reissue the quintet in a hardcover boxed set selling for $100. With the paperbacks selling at $13.95 (and just try finding a copy of The Boy Who Followed Ripley at your local big box bookstore), this set will be a welcome additon to lovers of Highsmith's little monster.

A couple of Hitches

2008-08-22T15:42:00.004-04:00

Donald Spoto, the author of Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe and The Dark Side of Genius (among other biographies), mines the Hitchcock golden girls in Spellbound by Beauty: Alfred Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies. This is Spoto's third crack at the legendary director, with the latest volume looking at Hitchcock's life and work through his relationships with the actresses in his films (Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, Tippi Hedren, et al). It's yet another dissection of his films, his fame, his legacy, his unconventional marriage and his obsessions. If they ever decide to put Spoto's Hitchcock trilogy in a box set, I hope the box is coffin shaped. Hitch would have liked that. Spellbound by Beauty (Harmony Books, $25.95) goes on sale Nov. 11.

Interestingly, Hitchcock: The First Three Minutes by Rembert Huser takes a look at Hitchcock's films through their opening title sequences. Huser discusses how a variety of visual and acoustic experimental techniques set the tone for Hitchcock's Hollywood classic films.What! No obsession with blonde hair or fear of policemen!? What's film study coming too? Published by European Humanities Research Centre at an import prices of $69, it arrives in select stores Nov. 30.

Before Sherlock

2008-08-21T11:15:00.005-04:00

One of the books I've never been able to suss out is Leaves from the Note-Book of a New York Detective. Published in 1865 by Dick & Fitzgerald, it's a collection of stories told to John Babbinton Williams by a retired New York detective named James Brampton.

We all know that Sherlock Holmes was the original analytical detective whose observations of small details proved him to be the master detective, but works like 1864's Experiences of a French Detective and The Autobiography of a London Detective certainly filled the gap between Poe and Conan Doyle, between sensational and analytical.

Now comes word that Leaves from the Note-Book of a New York Detective will be republished this October by Westholme Publishing in a paperback edition at $14.95. Told in the first person and transcribed from Brampton's diary by John B. Williams (a doctor, we must note), it lays out 29 cases in which Brampton's powers of observation proved indispensable. Some of his methods and observations are echoed in the Holmes canon.

But unlike Holmes,Brampton's cases are mere fiction, but it should be interesting to read them in the strong historical light that shines from Sherlock Holmes.

Judy, Judy, Judy

2008-08-20T16:28:00.006-04:00

Back in 1930, Nancy Drew hit the scene and the girl detective was born. While she aged only two years in the course of a decade, and lived with her father and a servant, she had plenty of time in her post-high school days to volunteer, or engage in the arts while sniffing out criminals in River Heights. She was a girl's girl, living well and living positively in Depression Era America.

She was followed in 1932 by Judy Bolton, a more realistic young woman who matured over the life of the series. The first book, The Vanishing Shadow, was based on the author's experiences during the Austin (PA) flood of 1911. Judy's life is full with a brother, two parents and two serious suitors, and she eventually marries in book 10, The Riddle of the Double Ring. And unlike Nancy, Judy was written from start to finish by her creator, Margaret Sutton.

Now Applewood Books, which resurrected the old Nancy Drews, has begun to republish the Judy Bolton series, complete with original cover art and illustrations by Pelagie Doane.

While the first 20 are now available in paperback at $14.95, you also may find some stores carrying the Judy Bolton Set (five hardcovers at $60). If you've done the math, the set of five hardcovers saves you $15 over the price of the first five paperbacks.

It doesn't take an amateur detective to figure that one out.

Comic valentine

2008-08-19T13:16:00.006-04:00

I don't read graphic novels.

Well, that's a bit of a stretch. I don't read many graphic novels. Once I get past Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, very little of it interests me, although I'm open to discovery.

While graphic novels are just that -- novel length and graphic (in all senses), I grew up on short-form comic book stories (and wish I had kept some of those old ones, like Fantastic Four No.1 and Hulk No.1 (he wasn't even green back then!) and Green Lantern No.1. I could retire on the comic books that got thrown away).

But I especially liked the detective comics: Secret Agent X-9, The Spirit and others collected by an older cousin who kept his black-and-white treasures stashed away in a tall cardboard barrel inside the kneehole of an old desk. We'd pull the barrel out, pop open the top and and spend hours poring over them, marveling at a heroic close call or checking out the gams on some sweet dame (preposterously pretentious at a very young age) and enjoying the mayhem that ensued.

So I was very happy to see The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics (Running Press, $17.95), a collection of noir comics that spans the genre from the early 1930s to the present time. Here is a Dashiell Hammett-written Secret Agent X-9 adventure and Will Eisner's Spirit, along side Ms.Tree, Mike Hammer and drawn by a stable of artists from Jack Kirby to Paul Grist.

This is a great collection brimming with dames, deception and dark alley doings. And as in life, even noir heroes can encounter a grisly end.

Good week for mystery and suspense

2008-08-18T17:05:00.013-04:00

We may be in the dog days of August but the mix of today's new releases is far from being a dog's breakfast. It's more of a potpourri of intrigue.
Here (in no particular order) are the titles:

Rough Justice by Jack Higgins
Agent Blake Johnson joins forces with British operative Harry Miller to stop a Russian officer in the act of torching a mosque

First Daughter by Eric Van Lustbader
ATF agent Jack McClure attempts to rescue the kidnapped daughter of the newly elected president.

The Hanged Man, a Tarot Card Mystery by David Skibbins
A paraplegic hacker and a tarot card reader go undercover to help a dominatrix wrongly accused of murder.

Paint the Town Dead by Nancy Bell
A real estate mogul is killed and sends a Texas county judge on a quest for the killer.

Deception's Daughter by Cordelia Frances Biddle
The disappearance of the heiress sends Martha Beale on a search for answersin 19th-century Philadelphia society. By the author of The Conjurer.

The Highly Effective Detective Goes to the Dogs by Richard Yancey
Teddy Ruzak discovers the body of a man whom he had befriended the day before and launches a personal investigation when the police dismiss his suspicions of foul play.

Deadly Beautiful by Sam Baker
Reporter Annie Anderson is back in the world of investigative journalism when she sets out to uncover the link between a missing supermodel and a vicious serial killer.

A Mortal Curiosity by Ann Granger
Lizzie Martin goes on the hunt for a missing child with the help of Scotland Yard detective Benjamin Ross.

Yellow Moon by Jewell Parker
RhodesVoodoo, vampires and more haunt this second installment of a trilogy that began with Voodoo Season

ARC de triomphe

2008-07-25T16:44:00.004-04:00

Just finished some Advanced Readers' Copies of upcoming books and there is plenty for readers to look forward to this fall. These three will give you your money's worth.

Fans of William Tapply's Brady Coyne will find that Hell Bent is a welcome addition to this always engaging series. With a look at the effects of the Iraq War on both the troops and their families, Boston lawyer Coyne investigates the murder of the brother of an old flame (she is also a welcome return). There's a side story about a moving company ripoff that gives Hell Bent a bit of a lighter side, but all the ingredients are there in this 24th Coyne of the realm. Due Sept. 30 from Minatour.

Speaking of all the ingredients, John Le Carre, a man of many twists and turns, navigates the war on terror in A Most Wanted Man. The scene is Europe and suspicions are high when an Islamic prisoner escapes Chechnya for the West and some ill-gotten riches. As a gaggle of secret agencies jockey for advantage, a couple of common citizens come to the rescue. Of course, nothing is as it seems and these are, after all, Smiley's people at work. Due Oct. 7 from Scribner's.

And talking of twists and turns, Darryl Wimberley's Kaleidoscope follows down-on-his-luck gambler Jack Romaine as he searches for some bonds stolen from a high-profile Cincinnati gangster. The trail leads to Kaleidoscope, a Florida winter layover for sideshow freaks and geeks, and Wimberley skillfully evokes the era of 1929 and the humanity of the characters society has made outcasts. Due Sept. 1 from Toby Press.

The times, they are a-changin'

2008-07-16T12:12:00.002-04:00

Bantam Dell Publishing Group retails Rex Stout's The League of Frightened Men for $19 in trade paperback. It also sells The League of Frightened Men with Fer-de-Lance for $15, also in trade paperback. What is the point? Perhaps to force you into buying two books for less than the price of one?

Who knows?

Stout recently graduated from mass market to trade paperback, doubling the price of each title and foiling any completists who had hoped to gather the entire series in a uniform collection. By upping the size of the book by 25 percent, publishers also upped the price by 100% and then wondered aloud why the backlist has fallen on hard times.

This is a trend among publishers which will no doubt continue until mass market paperbacks are mere memory. Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May mysteries, currently retailing in mass market at $6.99 will be bumped up in both size and price ($13) once White Corridor is issued in trade paper in September. Our particular stores sells Fowler's mass market titles very well; the trade paperback will be a push. Still, we can hope that the raised price will encourage publishers to keep backlist in print longer then they currently do.

Meanwhile, this should prove a boon to libraries and used bookstores as patronage will no doubt increase, further cutting into publishers' profits and forcing more price increases not so far down the timeline.

That leaves the small bookseller in the proverbial lurch. They are already fighting online booksellers and big box stores for customers who wonder why small bookstore prices aren't as good (meaning "as low") as Amazon or Borders. It has become difficult for the small bookstore to compete when the big guys are selling books at a discounted price that many smaller stores are paying at the wholesaler (and then they pay for shipping).

So visit your small book retailer soon. In a few years you'll be able to tell your grandchildren that there used to be stores that sold books and some of the people who worked in those stores actually had some knowledge of what they were selling.

Your grandchildren will laugh at you and ask if you used to get there by trolley car ... and, by the way grandpa, what is a book exactly?

The game's afoot

2008-07-10T16:02:00.004-04:00

According to a Reuters report out today, Guy Ritchie, who hasn't done anything really interesting since 1999's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (other than becoming "Mr. Madonna"), is in negotitations with Robert Downey Jr. for a new Sherlock Holmes project, based on a new comic book interpretation. Could be good news. Maybe. Ritchie can direct ... really... and there's no doubt about Downey Jr.'s abilities. But there are clouds on the horizon.

Meanwhile, Sacha Baron Cohen will soon star in Sherlock Holmes and be assisted by a Dr. Watson played by ... wait for it...Will Farrell.

I will repeat that.

Dr. Watson will be played by Will Farrell, again according to Reuters.

I will say it again for those of you whose brains may have imploded and already forgotten it in a desperate attempt at self-preservation of your sanity.

Dr. Watson will be played by Will Farrell, the same man who gave us Old School and A Night at the Roxbury.

Here's a frightening thought: Chris Kattan as Prof. Moriarty.

Another frightening thought: Dr. Watson running along Baker Street without his trousers.

I don't know if the canon can survive that kind of abuse.

Death of an Amsterdam Cop

2008-07-09T10:01:00.012-04:00

This post is to mark the passing of Janwillem van de Wetering on July 4. For those of us who like our police procedurals Continental, it is a great loss. He created the Grijpstra and de Gier novels, which began in 1975 with Outsider in Amsterdam.

Having been a member of the a member of the Amsterdam Special Constabulary, his writing had a high degree of verisimilitude. He also gave us Inspector Saito and the short story "Judge Dee Plays His Lute" (along with a biography of Judge Dee creator Robert van Gulik).

He was a world traveler and his writing demonstrates insights in to a variety of cultures. His life ended while he was living in the state of Maine.

For more information, go to:

http://www.radionetherlands.nl/news/international/5864971/Janwillem-van-de-Wetering

July titles roll in

2008-07-08T11:03:00.009-04:00

Here we are, a week into July, and the good titles keep coming. So far this month we've had three solid hits from Soho Press -- The Salisbury Manuscript by Philip Gooden, Dolores Gordon-Smith's Mad About the Boy? and Siren of the Waters by Micheal Genelin.
Also last week we saw the arrival of Chasing Darkness: An Elvis Cole Novel by Robert Crais, Hit and Run by Lawrence Block, Morrow, Losing Ground: A Mystery by Catherine Aird, rodigal Son by Thomas B. Cavanagh, The Sour Cherry Surprise: A Berger and Mitry Mystery by David Handler and Where Memories Lie by Deborah Crombie. Below, what's in store for the remainder of the month.

Today
One of Those Malibu Nights by Elizabeth Adler. St. Martin's Press. $24.95. Intervening on behalf of a distraught woman who is holding a gun in the doorway of a luxurious Malibu beach house, private investigator Mac Reilly finds himself in possession of the gun and searching for the woman when she subsequently goes missing. By the author of Meet Me in Venice.
Palace Council by Stephen Carter. Knopf (Random House). $26.95. Young writer Eddie Wesley and his lover, Aurelia Treene, investigate the murder of a wealthy, highly respected man whose body turns up on the grounds of a Harlem mansion. By the author of New England White.
Silent Thunder by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen. St. Martin's Pr. $24.95. Assigned the task of creating a schematic of a recently purchased Russian nuclear submarine that is slated for museum exhibition, architect Hannah Bryson enlists the help of her brother, Connor, who discovers a mysterious message behind a panel before he is brutally murdered.
Swan Peak: A Dave Robicheaux Novel by James Lee Burke. Simon & Schuster. $25.95. Dave Robicheaux's new case takes him from the bayous of Louisiana's New Iberia Parish to the wild mountains of Montana. By the author of The Tin Roof Blowdown.
Volk's Shadow by Brent Ghelfi. Henry Holt. $25.00. A sequel to Volk's Game finds Russian undercover military agent Alexei Volkovoy doubting himself in the wake of political intrigue.

July 10
Queen of the Flowers: A Phryne Fisher Mystery by Kerry Greenwood. Poisoned Pen Press. $24.95. Chosen Queen of the Flowers for St. Kilda's first Flower Parade festival, Phryne Fisher finds the glamour of her crown wearing off when one of her attendants vanishes.
July 15
Last Kiss by Luanne Rice. Bantam Bks (Random House). $25.00. Devastated by the senseless murder of her only son, eighteen-year-old Charlie, singer-songwriter Sheridan Rosslare has been unable to cope with her grief, until Charlie's heartbroken girlfriend, Nell Kilvert, enlists the assistance of Sheridan's long-ago soul mate, Gavin Dawson, to uncover the truth.
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere by John McFetridge. Harcourt. $25.00. Sharon MacDonald finds her life complicated by house arrest, an Iranian who falls to his death from her apartment building, police surveillance that keeps her from visiting her marijuana crop, and a suave stranger named Ray.
Findings: A Faye Longchamp Mystery by Mary Anna Evans. Poisoned Pen Press. $24.95. The discovery of a mysterious, fabulous emerald leads to murder when intruders break into the home of a dear friend of archaeologist Faye Longchamp.
Killer View by Ridley Pearson. Putnam (Penguin Group). $24.95. Tackling treacherous elements to rescue a missing skier on Sun Valley's Galena Summit, Sheriff Walt Fleming and his crack team are shocked by a sniper attack that leaves one of their number dead.
Real World by Natsuo Kirino. Translated by Philip Gabriel. Knopf (Random House). $22.95. In a crowded suburb on the outskirts of Tokyo, four teenage girls become suspicious of a neighbor's teenage son when his father is found brutally murdered and the young man disappears.
Say Goodbye by Lisa Gardner. Bantam Books (Random House). $25.00. Pages 384. Pregnant 18-year-old Delilah Rose enlists the assistance of FBI Special Agent Kimberly Quincy to investigate the mysterious disappearances of a number of young women whom no one else will notice are gone, including runaways, high-risk teens, and prostitutes.
Still Waters: A Mystery by Nigel McCrery. Pantheon Books (Random House). $23.95. Detective Chief Inspector Mark Lapslie and Sergeant Emma Bradbury are confronted by a complex case involving a potential serial killer.

July 17
Alive in Necropolis by Doug Dorst. Riverhead Bks (Penguin Group). $24.95. Navigating adult responsibilities in a California city where the dead outnumber the living, by-the-book rookie cop Michael Mercer struggles through new relationships and becomes increasingly obsessed with the mysterious fate of his predecessor, an officer who believed he policed the dead.
The Likeness by Tana French. Viking (Penguin Group). $24.95. A follow-up to In the Woods finds a traumatized detective Cassie Maddox struggling in her career and relationship with Sam O'Neill while investigating the unsettling murder of a young woman whose name matches an alias Cassie once had used as an undercover officer.

July 22
Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva. Putnam (Penguin Group). $26.95. Gabriel Allon investigates the suspicious death of a journalist in Moscow.

July 29
The Garden of Evil by David Hewson. Delacorte Pr (Random House). $24.00. The discovery of two corpses next to an unknown Caravaggio masterpiece in an art studio in Rome sends Detective Nic Costa on a quest to uncover the truth.
The Map Thief by Heather Terrell. Ballantine. $25.00. Manhattan attorney Mara Coyne journeys into the dark and dangerous world of stolen artifacts as she becomes caught up in the search for a legendary, fifteenth-century map that supposedly documents a Chinese expedition to the far reaches of the globe and that has been a closely guarded secret for centuries. By the author of The Chrysalis.

Flood watch

2008-06-27T16:12:00.005-04:00

Floods in middle America have devastated lives and libraries. We bookish types should offer our help. Below is a list of three libraries and links to their devastation. These libraries don't need books, but some monetary infusion sure will help bring them back.

Every dollar helps.

Cedar Rapids Public Library Foundation500 First Street SoutheastCedar Rapids, IA. 52401http://crlibrary.info/photos/20080621-FloodDamage/index.html

Friends of New Hartford Public LibraryP O Box 292New Hartford, IA. 50660http://www.newhartford.lib.ia.us/

National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library30 Sixteenth Avenue SouthwestCedar Rapids, IA. 52401-5904http://www.ncsml.org/

Macavity noms announced

2008-06-25T16:44:00.008-04:00

Mystery Readers Journal has announced its nominees for the 2008 Macavity Award. (For those of you who don't know what a Macavity is, I can only be jealous of you as you have never had to experience the musical Cats. Lucky, lucky reader.)

The nominees are (drumroll):

Best Mystery Novel

Reed Farrel Coleman: Soul Patch (Bleak House)
John Connolly: The Unquiet (Hodder & Stoughton*/Atria)
David Corbett: Blood of Paradise (Ballantine Mortalis)
Deborah Crombie: Water Like a Stone (Morrow)
Laura Lippman: What the Dead Know (Morrow)

Best First Mystery
Tana French: In the Woods (Hodder & Stoughton*/Viking)
Joe Hill: Heart-Shaped Box (William Morrow)
Lisa Lutz: The Spellman Files (Simon & Schuster)
Tim Maleeny: Stealing the Dragon (Midnight Ink)
Matt Beynon Rees: The Collaborator of Bethlehem (Soho)

Best Mystery Short Story
Donna Andrews: "A Rat's Tale" (EQMM, Sep-Oct 2007)
Rhys Bowen: "Please Watch Your Step" (The Strand Magazine, Spring 2007)
Jon L. Breen: "The Missing Elevator Puzzle" (EQMM, Feb 2007)
Beverle Graves Myers: "Brimstone P.I." (AHMM, May 2007)
Gillian Roberts: "The Old Wife's Tale" (EQMM, Mar-Apr 2007)

Best Mystery Non-Fiction
Barry Forshaw: Rough Guide to Crime Fiction (Penguin Rough Guides)
Jean Gould O'Connell: Chester Gould: A Daughter's Biography of the Creator of Dick Tracy (McFarland & Company)
Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower & Charles Foley, editors: Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters (HarperPress*/Penguin)
Lee Lofland: Police Procedure and Investigation: A Guide for Writers (Howdunit Series, Writers Digest Books)
Roger Sobin, editor/compiler: The Essential Mystery Lists: For Readers, Collectors, and Librarians (Poisoned Pen Press)

Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery
Rhys Bowen: Her Royal Spyness (Penguin)
Ariana Franklin: Mistress of the Art of Death (Putnam)
Jason Goodwin: The Snake Stone (Faber & Faber*/ Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Clare Langley-Hawthorne: Consequences of Sin (Viking*/Penguin)
Joyce Carol Oates: The Gravedigger's Daughter (HarperCollins Ecco)
*UK publisher (first edition)

For more information on the awards and on the Journal, go to:
http://www.mysteryreaders.org/

Screening room

2008-06-18T16:20:00.005-04:00

The American Film Institute has announced its Top 10 mystery movies. They are:
1. Vertigo

2. Chinatown

3. Rear Window

4. Laura

5. The Third Man

6. Maltese Falcon

7. North by Northwest

8. Blue Velvet

9. Dial M for Murder

10. Usual Suspects

Has anyone noticed that the oldest film among this bunch goes all the way back to 1941 and that three of them are in black and white? How many of these have your grandkids seen? Not many, I'd imagine. (No Donnie Darko here. No Se7en.)

And since we are talking American film, I guess Rashomon, Les Diaboliques, Oldboy, Testament of Dr. Mabuse and Z were pretty much out of the running going into the fray. Luckily for Hitchcock, if a film was based on a French novel (like Vertigo based on "...d'Entre les Morts"), that was okay. (And here I always thought that The Third Man was a British film by directed and produced by Carol Reed with Alexander Korda; must of had some U.S. money in that one.)

Now there are those who will take issue with the list: Where's The Thin Man? Or, alternatively, where's Hot Fuzz?

And if I was to add to the list, I might ask : Where are L.A. Confidential, The Manchurian Candidate, Memento and Citizen Kane (all about figuring out what Rosebud means)?
But it's just a list...a stupid, stupid list that some people might argue over. (Where's The 39 Steps?). But it's just a list, really (Where's The Big Sleep?), so who cares? (Where's The Lady Vanishes? Where's Charade? Where's In the Heat of the Night? Where's Touch of Evil?)

Stupid list. I don't care. Doesn't matter.

Book buying on the party line

2008-06-13T16:02:00.004-04:00

The Reading and Book Buying Habits of Americans, a new Zogby International poll commissioned by Random House, has some interesting information. It was an online poll of 8218 people.

The fact that more people would curl up with a book than light up a Kindle is no surprise: Most readers are older -- pre-computer generation -- and as a boomer I know my habits are fixed. Besides, those crazy kids like to tool around the Internet with their YouTubes and IMs and play computer games. Us golden oldens are more inclined to opt for paper reading.

However, there's some interesting political information in the report.

According to Zogby, Democrats and independents were more likely to buy books at independent stores while Republicans liked chain stores. What could this mean? Well, we could determine that Democrats and independents support the little guy while Republicans prefer big business. We could infer that tax-and-spend Democrats like to spend and be taxed more for books while Republicans like the discounts at Sam's Club. Or we could assume that the majority of Republicans responding to the poll questions live in areas where malls and chains dominate and that Democrats and independents responding have little access to chain stores.

Democrats, again according to Zogby, like to visit bookstores and linger while independents and Republicans don't like to hang out. Democrats are more likely to be influenced in buying a book after reading a review while Republicans are more likely than Democrats to be influenced by talk radio. More than half of all respondents judge a book by its cover and 89 percent say that if they like a book they will seek out other books by the same author (Both bits of information are of no surprise).

Finally, Democrats are more likely than independents or Republicans to buy a book they see on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. And overall, more respondents were likely to buy a book they saw on Stewart's show than on Oprah's? Does this mean that Stewart sells more books or does it mean that the respondents were more likely to watch Stewart than to watch Oprah?

Next time Zogby throws a book poll, I'd like more background numbers, please.

Random thoughts 3

2008-06-12T11:55:00.001-04:00

The book buying business is getting tougher for consumers who like their British imports: The recent Rebecca Tope is a fine example. A paperback copy of Death in the Cotswolds costs 6.99 British pounds as did her earlier A Cotswold Killing. A Cotswold Killing sold here in the US for $9.95 while Death in the Cotswolds has come in with a US price of $15.95.

And don't bother to run out and hope to find A Cotswold Killing at 9.95 anymore. That price too has risen to $15.95.

Thanks to the current English exchange rate, we are getting royally pounded.

Note: Random Thoughts is not a subsidiary of Random House or its affiliates. They are just...well, random thoughts.

New voices

2008-06-11T13:32:00.006-04:00

New voices are always a happy discovery. And I find myself reading new authors or authors I've never encountered before. Some is dreck, but some is simply splendid.

So, if you are looking for a good mystery from a voice you've never heard before to brighten up you summer vacation, check out these great titles.

Blood Alley by Tom Coffey is a neo noir in a class by itself. Great background, snappy patter with hints of Raymond Chandler and a nod to the movie Chinatown.

Blood of the Wicked is Leighton Gage's initial outing for Brazilian detective Mario Silva as he investigates the assassination of a bishop and political corruption. It's a solid send-off for this Soho Press series which will continue in January with Buried Strangers.

For those who like their thrillers mean and lean, you can't do much better than Tom Rob Smith's Child 44, as Leo Demidov hunts a serial killer in Stalinist Russia.

Scott Heim, whose Mysterious Skin found fame in Hollywood, returned to fiction with We Disappear, examining the death of his own mother against a fictional background. Heartfelt, heartbreaking and redemptive, the book takes us on a meth-fuel investigation into fate of the missing.

The Water Room by Christopher Fowler sent me back to the first in his series, Full Dark House. Fowler's progatonists John May and Arthur Bryant are a couple of grumpy old men and head of London's Peculiar Crime Unit. If you haven't encountered this pair of aging agents, you're in for some delightful reading.

Finally, Jennifer McMahon's Island of Lost Girls bowled me over. Another writer I had yet to read (I had somehow missed Promise Not to Tell), Island of Lost Girls captures the fragility of innocence and the darkness of the world. This book is disturbing without beginning graphic, making it even more effective.

For more information, go to:

www.bloodalleynovel.com/

http://www.christopherfowler.co.uk/cf/bio.php

http://heim.etherweave.com/

www.jennifer-mcmahon.com/

http://www.leightongage.com/

Notes from the Underground

2008-06-10T11:23:00.005-04:00

Note One:

The book business is a strange one.

Recent correspondence with an author is a case-in-point: According to the author, two stores in his/her region charge all authors to sign books in their store. I have never heard of a bookstore charging an author for signing books in a store. When he/she mentioned that his/her book had been published by a Print on Demand publisher (in earlier days known as a vanity press), I explained that it was probably due to the fact that the stores had been burnt by vanity ...er, PODs at some time: Discounts are usually lower than with traditional presses, shipping and handling higher and, sometimes, returns are not accepted. He/she assured me that ALL authors were made to pay to appear in the stores.

I checked out the list of upcoming authors at these particular stores; they included Lee Child, David Sedaris and Jeffrey Deaver. If publishers are paying to have these authors in a store, then the publishers are dumb as mud. Especially when the town has a Barnes and Nobles and a Borders within blocks of the author-charging independents.

Hosting a book signing by a self-published author is not a money-making proposition. Most authors don't know what it costs a store to set up a signing. Most signings bring in few customers, some of whom buy books to be signed while others bring books in to be signed that they've bought at other bookstores. Stores pay for shipping, for the cost of books, flyers, advertising and newsletters to entice customers to meet a new author. Lee Child and Jeffrey Deaver will draw in droves; a new author is a difficult draw.

A recent author at our store drew no one, nobody, nada...even though we did press releases, flyers, an e-mail newsletter and radio advertising. But those costs are part of being in the book business. We do it because we love books and authors. We'd like to make money too, but sometimes just being able to pay your bills is success enough. Besides, I loved this author's book and have sold several copies since the appearance.

Second note:

An author sent me two books recently with a request to feature them in the store. The books were published by Booksurge (a POD) and arrived in an Amazon.com box.

At first I thought it was a mistake. I would never order from Amazon.com. (Booksurge is owned by Amazon.com.)

Sending the books was a marketing technique by this author, but what makes him/her think that'd I'd order from the very company that wishes to put independent bookstores out of business? Don't independent bookstores have enough problems struggling against chainstores? Why would we order our supplies from the behemoth?

I get requests every week from authors to carry their books. I go to their website and inevitably they prominently display a link to Amazon.com. Authors who want independents to support them should think about adding a link to (in the case of mystery bookstores) the IMBA or for a general bookstore to IndieBound to encourage readers to buy from an independent.

After all, authors are independents too.

For more information, go to:

http://www.mysterybooksellers.com/IMBA_Members.htm

http://www.indiebound.org/

Write on

2008-06-06T11:20:00.001-04:00

For those of us in Vermont all writers conferences are great conferences: Someone knows we're here.

So when I received a flyer for the League of Vermont Writers' "Writers Meet Agents Conference" I thought I'd better get out the word.

If you live in Vermont and can travel to Burlington on Saturday, July 19, there will be a day-long event at Champlain College from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. There will be roundtables, workshops and a chance for one-on-one sessions. Among the agencies represented from New York will be Curtis Brown Agency, Drystel and Goderich Literary Agency, Fischer-Harbage Agency, The Nancy Love Literary Agency, Spectrum Literary Agency; from Massachusetts, Fairbank Literary Representation.

There will also be a workshop on query letters and information on marketing online. Overnight accommodations are available on campus.

Go to:

http://www.leaguevtwriters.org

Random Thoughts

2008-06-05T12:08:00.003-04:00

Who will win the Quantity in Publishing Award this year. Certainly not Clive Cussler with only 2 hardcovers scheduled this year or W.E.B. Griffin, who this year will have paltry 3 new hardcovers out. Nope, not even close. James Patterson plans to have 7 new titles in print by year's end. He can write them faster than I can read them. He's less a brand name and more a major industry ... like Velveeta or Cheezwhiz or some other dairy product. (I think this weekend's Strolling of the Heifers is beginning to take its toll.)

Bill O'Reilly's memior will be released Sept. 23. It's called A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity. At the end, do we find out it's a cookbook? (Shades of The Twilight Zone.)

Random House will be publishing P.D. James' new Dalgleish mystery The Private Patient on Nov. 18. Meanwhile, those in Great Britain will have access to it in September. Bummer. But it's been three years since The Lighthouse, so we should be able to tough it out a couple of extra months, although I don't know why we should have to.

Writer Duane Swierczynski, author of the comically violent Severance Package, has a new hardcover out from Quirk. It's titled Batman: Murder at Wayne Manor and the author and the publisher have a history together with The Crimes of Dr. Watson. Like the latter, Batman is "interactive" and contains a party invitation, newspaper, map of Wayne Manor and more. Illustrations are by David Lapham (Stray Bullets) and it'd be a great Father's Day gift for the kid in your dad. (Hint. Hint.)

Earlier this week the Crime Writers Association announced its 2008 Dagger Award nominees. Since the list is comprehensive and you really should visit this organization's site occasionally, you'll have to click on the link below to find out who the nominees are. Winners will be announce July 10 at the Four Season Hotel in Park Lane, London. Oh to be there. (Spoiler: Sue Grafton will be presented the Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence.)
Go to:
www.thecwa.co.uk/daggers/2008/index.html

Note: Random Thoughts is not a subsidiary of Random House or its affiliates. They are just...well, random thoughts.

2008-06-04T10:10:00.008-04:00

Today would be Ian Fleming's 100th birthday, so it's a good day to celebrate the creation of spy James Bond.

I discovered Bond, first, at the movies. It was called Dr. No and one of the photos inside the theater lobby featured Ursula Andress rising from the sea in a teeny bikini. I was in high school; I had to see that film. And I was not disappointed, either by Ms. Andress or the adventure plot.

With my hormones up and running, Ian Fleming/James Bond became an obsession. I began reading the books. I was not alone; we all read them. (And then along came I Spy, The Man From Uncle and Danger Man to satisfy our burgeoning habit, and Get Smart to laugh at it. And let's not forget to mention infusions of Our Man Flint and Matt Helm. By the late '60s, spies were everywhere.)

There was much to please a high school boy in the Bond oeuvre of girls, guns and a disdain for authority. Bond even trumped the American government, and poor Felix Leiter, Fleming's cardboard cutout stand-in for American authority, became shark bait while the brash Brit bagged the bird.

While I loved the names of the women Bond bedded from Honey Rider to Pussy Galore, I had (barely) matured in unenlightened times (this was 1962, well before the Summer of Love) unaware of the sexual undertones throughout. Galore, it turns out, was more interested in women than in men, yet she succumbed to Bond's masculine prowess.

And Fleming threw us some real curves: Honey Rider (Andress' character in Dr. No) had "a beautiful back... and the behind was almost as firm and rounded as a boy's." Meanwhile Tatianna Romanov's backside (in From Russia With Love) is described as so "hardened with exercise that it had lost the smooth doward feminine sweep, and now, round at the back and flat and hard and the sides, it jutted like a man's." Say what?

(For more information on Fleming's proclivities, see "That License to Kill Is Unexpired," an article published in Sunday's New York Times [there are also sundry other articles about 007 here] at: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/ian_fleming/index.html?inline=nyt-per )

And Bond had a tendency to force sex, even on a willing woman. He had a bit of the brute about him, but then you can't blame Bond because he had other issues: Bond villains had a preoccupation with genital torture, so maybe Bond had to work up a head of steam just to get his engine revved. Still, even as a teenager, some of this seemed...well, unhealthy.

But Bond was raw and unexpected, providing a jolt out of our black-and-white post-war complacency. He smoked like a chimney, drank like a fish and still managed to make it to live another day. (Fleming made it to age 56; so much for real life.)

Then Hollywood smoothed out 007's rough edges and gave us an icon instead of a man. Connery turned him into a god, Lazenby wasn't given a chance; Moore was insipid, Brosnan was Remington Steele; Dalton was too dark and dangerous as escapist movie material. The jury is still out on Daniel Craig.

So we have two Bonds: the first in print and the second, ever evolving, on film. The latest incarnation in print (and there have been many) is Sebastian Faulks' Devil May Care. It is set in the Cold War and the reviews, so far, are good.

So Bond is back, but I wonder if he will be able to pass his greatest test -- fulfilling the puerile fantasies of high school boys.

Also see Ursula Andress in the Dr. No bikini at:

http://www.bikiniscience.com/chronology/1960-1965_SS/UA6310_S/UA6310.html

Ursula Andress Dr. No bikini scene at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnsYVmh9Gtg

Waiting for Wexford

2008-06-03T13:05:00.003-04:00

Those of us waiting for June 10 may be getting antsy. It's the day that Not in the Flesh, the latest Inspector Wexford novel hits bookstore shelves this side of the Pond (It's been available overseas since last year). Still, waiting a few extra months for a new book by Baroness Rendell of Babergh CBE aka Ruth Rendell is what we are willing to do.

Rendell, along with P.D. James, has been credited with changing the course of the mystery novel. Where earlier purveyors of English detective fiction gave us the whodunnit, Rendell is among those who elevated it to the whydunnit, immersing us in the psychology of a killer -- development, environment and sexual obsessions.

With a trunkload of Edgars, Silver Daggers, Gold Daggers, Diamond Dagger and Gumshoe Awards, she's given us a book a year since 1964, writing under Rendell or Barbara Vine. All this while sitting as a member of the House of Lords. Meanwhile, her latest work Portobello comes out in England in November. So we can anticipate yet another next year.

And with her graceful prose and sharp insights into character, we know that Not in the Flesh will have been worth the wait. And the wait is nearly over.

Listomania

2008-06-02T10:30:00.001-04:00

Bouchercon 2008: Charmed to Death happens Oct. 9-12 in Baltimore. Of course, the convention has its own awards: The Anthony Awards. Here are this year's nominees.

The 2008 Anthony Award Nominees

Best Novel
James Lee Burke-Tin Roof Blowdown- Simon and Schuster
Lee Child – Bad Luck and Trouble Delacorte Press
Robert Crais- The Watchman Simon and Schuster
William Kent Krueger-Thunder Bay Atria
Laura Lippman – What the Dead Know William Morrow

Best First Novel
Sean Chercover- Big City, Bad Blood William Morrow
Tana French- In the Woods Viking Adult
Lisa Lutz-The Spellman Files Simon and Schuster
Craig MacDonald- Head Games Bleak House Books
Marcus Sakey- The Blade Itself St. Martin Minotaur

Best Paperback Original
Megan Abbott- Queenpin Simon and Schuster
Ken Bruen and Jason Starr – Slide Hard Case Crime
David Corbett- Blood of Paradise Ballantine Books
Robert Fate- Baby Shark’s Beaumont Blues Capital Crime Press
P.J. Parrish- A Thousand Bones Pocket

Short Story
Rhys Bowen- “Please Watch Your Step” (The Strand Magazine-Spring 07)
Steve Hockensmith-”Dear Dr. Watson” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
Toni L. P. Kelner - “How Stella Got her Grave Back” - (Many Bloody Returns edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner) for Ace Hardcover
Laura Lippman- “Hardly Knew Her” - (Dead Man’s Hand edited by Otto Penzler) for Harcourt
Daniel Woodrell -”Uncle” – (A Hell of A Woman: An Anthology of Female Noir edited by Megan Abbott) for Busted Flush Press

Critical Work
Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower & Charles Foley Penguin
The Essential Mystery Lists Compiled by Roger Sobin Poisoned Pen Press
The Triumph of the Thriller: How Cops, Crooks and Cannibals Captured Popular Fiction – Patrick Anderson Random House
Deviance in Contemporary Crime Fiction- Christiana Gregoriou Palgrave MacMillan

Special Services
Jon and Ruth Jordan- Crime Spree Magazine
Ali Karim- Shotz Magazine
Maddy Van Hertbruggen- 4MA
Sarah Weinman- Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind
Judy Bobalik- for being one of the best friends and supporters of mystery writers anywhere

Web Site
Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind- Sarah Weinman
Rap sheet/January Magazine –J Kingston Pierce
Murderati – A Writer’s Blog
Stop You’re Killing Me- Stan Ulrich & Lucinda Surber
Crime Fiction Dossier- David Montgomery

For more information, go to: http://charmedtodeath.com/

In print

2008-06-01T11:07:00.004-04:00

Anyone interested in mysteries or publishing in the U.S. should check out the Sisters in Crime website (see below).

Sisters in Crime is an organization of "authors, readers, publishers, agents, booksellers and librarians bound by our affection for the mystery genre and our support of women who write mysteries.

Four Sisters in Crime members trekked to Manhattan to speak with representatives of several publishing houses. If you want to know how the genre is doing and what the genre is doing, this is a great four-part series of articles.

For information, go to:
http://sisters-in-crime-sinc.blogspot.com/2008/05/sisters-in-crime-publishers-summit-team_28.html

Having a cow

2008-05-30T10:29:00.002-04:00

Some mysteries are difficult to explain; others are easy.

When I first heard of Brattleboro, Vermont's annual Strolling of the Heifers, I was perplexed. Was this some sort of Quaalude-inspired version of the Running of the Bulls? Turns out it isn't. It's a celebration of all things agricultural, happens every first weekend in June and kicks off National Dairy Month.

According to a passage in the forthcoming Vermont Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities and Other Curiosities by Robert F. Wilson with photographs by Victoria Blewer (in bookstores in September from Globe Pequot Press), the parade features “100 flower-laden Holstein and Jersey cows – and occasionally a Guernsey or two – making their way down Main Street to a cheering crowd, followed by draft horses, tractors, jugglers, clowns, fire eaters... But it wouldn’t be a dairy festival without a milking contest, music by the Heifer Brass Quartet (and at least a dozen other jazz and classical groups), a Dairy Princess Pageant, and a Royal Farmers Feast and Farm Tour.”

It all starts here in Brattleboro on Friday, June 6 with a Gallery Walk at 5:15 p.m. that celebrates Women in Agriculture and is accompanied by the closing of Main Street between Elliot and High streets for a little dancing as fresco. The parade kicks off Saturday, June 7 at 10 a.m., goes down Main Street and is followed by a host of events at the Brattleboro Retreat and other locations around town.

If you haven't been to Brattleboro, this is a great weekend to get the flavor of this agricultural state: milk, cheese, ice cream. Yum.

And stop in at Mystery on Main Street to say hello. We don't have any books about cows, but you can pick up a copy of Three Bags Full, the tale of a flock of sheep who set out to solve the murder of their shepherd. It, too, is a wild and wooly time.

For more information, go to: http://www.strollingoftheheifers.org

High crimes

2008-05-29T10:13:00.005-04:00

Crime books are an interesting breed. They come in all varieties: fiction, nonfiction, faction and speculative. The latest in the latter comes from an unlikely source: Vincent Bugliosi.

L.A. County District Attorney prosecutor Bugliosi came to fame with his prosecution of the Charles Manson case and followed it with its retelling in Helter Skelter, one of the bestselling true-crime titles of all time.

Today is the official release date of Bugliosi's The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, whose title alone can't go unnoticed. In it, Bugliosi puts forth the case that Bush should go on trial for the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers who lost their lives fighting in Iraq. Bugliosi's evidence: that the war was sold to America under false pretenses and that it has needlessly cost the lives of 100,000 Iraqis, caused the U.S. to be seen as the villain in a world, and cost the American people trillions of dollars to wage it ... with no end in sight.

The book sounds fascinating; and while the publishers say Bugliosi presents a non-partisan argument, you can't help thinking that the book's title is totally inflammatory. Coming on the heels of former National Coordinator for Security and Counter Terrorism Richard A. Clarke's Your Government Failed You and ex-Press Secretary's Scott McClellen's What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception, this can't be a good week, tome-wise, for Dubya et al. (Not surprisingly, current Press Secretary Dana Perino said of McClellen's book, “We are puzzled.”)

If all this gets lost in spin this weekend as Fox News focuses on an incredulous Karl Rove and as right-wing talking heads bemoan the fact that New York State will recognize gay marriages made outside its borders, don't be surprised. News media has no attention span and, as has been seen for the past few years, can be played like a violin by Pennsylvania Avenue virtuosi.

According to the Bugliosi's publisher's website, the book “outlines a legally credible pathway to holding our highest government officials accountable for their actions.”

I won't hold my breath.

For more information, go to: http://www.prosecutionofbush.com/

Coming to a bookstore near you

2008-05-28T10:13:00.007-04:00

Summer is upon us and publishers are revving up beach reading with some sure-fire sellers. Here's a look at what's coming in June.

June 1
The Walking Dead by Gerald Seymour
An armed protection officer in London and a would-be suicide bomber begin to question their identities.

June 2
Master of the Delta by Thomas H. Cook
In 1954 Mississippi, high school teacher Jack Branch befriends one of his students, the son of a notorious murderer, which leads to deadly consequences.

June 3
Nothing to Lose: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child
Reacher finds himself taking on a Colorado town as he searches for the truth behind its connection to a brutal war.
The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst
In 1937 Warsaw, on the eve of World War II, intelligence operatives wage their own espionage battle in a world of betrayal, intrigue and abduction.
Vineyard Chill: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery by Philip R. Craig
J.W.'s happy domesticity with Zee and the kids disrupted by a surprising call from a reckless old friend who needs help hiding from would-be assailants, a situation with ties to a beautiful woman's disappearance. A final installment of the popular series by the late author.
Murder on Bank Street: A Gaslight Mystery by Victoria Thompson
Once again Sarah Brandt teams up with Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy, this time to investigate the murder of her late husband, in a mystery set in turn-of-the-20th-century New York.
Death and Honor: An Honor Bound Novel by W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV
In 1943 Argentina, Marine pilot Cletus Frade monitors two German operations, including a concentration-camp smuggling ring and a Nazi protection group.
Dyer Consequences: A Knitting Mystery by Maggie Sefton
Kelly Flynn's plans to renovate her recently purchased alpaca ranch are threatened by acts of sabotage targeting her new home and her local yarn shop, in a mystery complemented by a new knitting pattern and recipe.

June 10
The Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver
Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs team up only to find themselves a killer's next targets.
Not in the Flesh: A Wexford Novel by Ruth Rendell
Chief Inspector Wexford must piece together long-ago events to uncover the identity of a murder victim.

June 17
The Dawn Patrol by Don Winslow
Boone Daniels investigates an insurance scam that has ties to an unsolved murder case.
Fearless Fourteen: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich
Stephanie Plum, Grandma Mazur, vice captain Joe Morelli, Bob the Dog, funeral home and a pot roast take center stage in this popular comic series.

June 24
TailSpin: An FBI Thriller by Catherine Coulter
FBI agents Savich and Sherlock head for Kentucky to discover the fates of a missing agent and the doctor he was protecting.

Nordic but nice

2008-05-26T15:55:00.004-04:00

Nordic mysteries have found a new life and I'm wondering whether Joe Queenan had anything to do with it. His Sunday article in the Los Angeles Times hit the mark (see link below).

Henning Mankell was certainly the writer who kicked open the door, and he isn't alone anymore. How many of these authors have you read? Karin Fossum, Jo Nesbo, K.O. Dahl, Maj Sjowall, Mari Jungstedt, Asa Larsson, Ake Edwardson, Helene Tursten, Fred Vargas, Matti Joensuu? And, of course, there's Iceland's Arnaldur Indridason (Jar City anyone?). And there will be more names to discover this fall.

So the next time you're looking for a mystery that will take you out of yourself, check out some of these international, Nordic names.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-op-queenan25-2008may25,0,5876592.story

Long time, no blog

2008-05-26T10:04:00.006-04:00

It's been a busy couple of months and my blogging, I admit, has suffered. Running a bookshop, it turns out, can be difficult at best ... but, finally, I'm back in the blogosphere.

Recently had author Tom Coffey in the store to sign books and answer questions of readers. For those of you who don't know Coffey, he's a sports editor at The New York Times and author of Blood Alley (Toby Press), a new novel in the noir tradition.

The book is stiletto sharp with rich dialogue and striking images. Set in post-WWII New York, it evokes a time of big city corruption, unbridled wealth and daily newspaper wars. (Not much, it seems, has changed in 60 years.) It's not a pretty book, portraying racism in the Big Apple when it was rotten to the core. There are no heroes in Blood Alley, simply people trying to do what's best for themselves. The few who do good quickly discover that no good deed goes unpunished.

The period detail is spot-on and Coffey immerses you in a time gone by. It's a great read for those who love Chandler, Chinatown and all those gritty '50s films that you knew would end badly for the protagonist.

Since Blood Alley received a starred review in Publisher's Weekly, booksellers and readers around the country may soon discover Coffey's talent.

The Spirit of Christmas

2008-04-27T13:43:00.013-04:00

Just when you thought life couldn't get any better, Frank Miller comes along to lift your spirits ... literally.

Seems Miller and company will release My City Screams, based on Will Eisner's icon character The Spirit, come December.

For those of you who don't know The Spirit, he's a vigilante crime fighter, a young cop named Denny Colt who was placed in suspended animation and mistakenly buried. When he reawakened and made his way out of his Wildwood Cemetery grave plot, he went to work ridding Central City of crime. His costume of choice? Blue business suit, fedora, gloves and a domino mask (similar to those worn by the Lone Ranger and Robin of Batman fame).

Thankfully, the character of Ebony White (a woefully stereotyped African-American) has been eliminated from the mix of characters. But ... oh, those femmes fatale. It appears that P'Gell (the sexy black widow who was a recurring villain) is not in the film (although one never really knows). But there are compensations: Scarlett Johanssen as Silken Floss, Eva Mendez as Sand Serif, Paz Vega as Plaster of Paris and Stana Katic as Morgenstern.

And, since Samuel L. Jackson will play The Spirit's archenemy The Octopus, things couldn't look brighter (or is it darker?) for My City Screams. And it hits the big screen Christmas Day. Now that's the spirit.

Family affair

2008-04-07T15:39:00.005-04:00

The Clarks, mother Mary Higgins Clark and daughter Carol Higgins Clark, each have new books hitting the shelves Tuesday: Where Are You Now by MHC and Zapped by CHC. This got us thinking about other mystery writers whose relatives also made their mark in mysteries.

Dick Francis' latest mystery, Dead Heat, was co-authored with son Felix Francis. Christopher Rice, son of Ann Rice, has several of his own books out, the latest of which is Blind Fall.

E.W. Hornung, who gave us Raffles and the Crime Doctor, was brother-in-law to Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. And while Joe Hill, author of The Heart-Shaped Box and 20th Century Ghosts, is a popular writer, his dad Stephen King is no slouch in the thriller department.

Fans of Scotland Yard’s Inspector Ian Rutledge may not know that that venernable British detective is the creation of Charles and Caroline Todd, an American mother-son team.

And Jesse Kellerman, son of authors Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, has a new book out this week also; it's called The Genius.

Some things just run in the family

The awards season continues

2008-04-04T10:19:00.001-04:00

The Short Mystery Fiction Society has announced its finalist for the 2008 Derriger Awards. They are:

Best Story (0 to 1,000 words)
"Saved" by Keri Clark (Fall 2007,Mysterical-E)
"Dreaming of a Spite Christmas" by B.V. Lawson (Winter 2007, Mouth Full of Bullets, )
"A Woman Scorned" by Jillian Berg (Autumn 2007, Mouth Full of Bullets)
"Your New Fan" by Keri Clark (Winter 2007, Mouth Full of Bullets)
"My Hero" by Patricia Abbott (2007, D.Z. Allen’s Muzzle Flash)

Best Story (1,001-4,000 words)
"Brimstone P.I." by Beverle Graves Myers (May 2007, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
"We All Come from Splattertown" by Hugh Lessig (July 2007, ThugLit)
"Joyride" by Rick Noetzel (December 2007, Shred of Evidence)
"Handful of Stars" by Jack Hardway (Autumn 2007, Mouth Full of Bullets)
"In the Shadows of Wrigley Field" by John Weagly (November 2007, The Back Alley, )
"The Promise" by Camille LaGuire (March-April 2007, Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine)

Best Story (4,001-8,000 words)
"A Trader’s Lot" by Twist Phalen (from Wall Street Noir)
"Devil’s Lake" by John Schroeder (January/February 2007, Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine)
"A Private Hanging" by Herschel Cozine (Summer 2007, Mysterical-E)
"Mr. McGregor’s Garden" by Kate Flora (Still Waters)
"Growing Up Is for Losers" by Rosemary Harris (Still Waters)
"The Gospel According to Gordon Black" by Richard Helms (Fall 2007, The Thrilling Detective Web Site)

Best Story (8,001-17,500 words)
"The Bookworm’s Demise" by Beverle Graves Myers (December 2007, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
"Paper Walls/Glass Houses" by Eric Shane (June 2007, The Back Alley)
"The Enlightenment of Magnus McKay" by John Burdett (Wall Street Noir)
"Wasting Assets" by Mike Wiecek (September 2007, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
"Forget Me Not" by Clifford Royal Johns (Fall 2007, Mysterical-E)

For more information, go to: http://www.shortmystery.net/

Books (and readers) full of surprises

2008-04-03T10:09:00.007-04:00

As the owner of a retail store, I'm continually surprised at what books people buy ... at least in my shop.

I had expected to sell mountains of James Patterson's books, just the way the supermarket here in town sells cases of Pepsi. But I find that Patterson is anathema to my customers who much prefer works by Kate Atkinson, Donna Leon and Ross Thomas.

Meanwhile, books that I considered a hard sell have been proven to be easy.

Case-in-point: We Disappear by Scott Heim.

I knew Heim had written Mysterious Skin, but didn't discover the book until after I'd seen the movie on DVD release. When I met Heim at NEIBA last fall, I got a copy of his book and devoured it. It moved me so much that, while it isn't the traditional sleuth-hunts-down-killer scenario of detective fiction, I invited him to a signing at the store. (It will happen Saturday, April 5 at 1 p.m. for those of you in the Brattleboro, Vt. area).

I brought in some copies, put up a display and expected not to sell many until the event.

I was wrong. When I tallied up my sales last week, it was number 5 among my bestsellers. Even more surprising, We Disappear was my No. 1 seller for the month of March.

Sure, you say, but March is always a slow month. True, I say, but still...

Readers are taking to We Disappear. And while Ian Rankin and Cara Black continue to sell swimmingly, there appears to be interest out there for more eclectic titles written by authors willing to take a chance.

I'm sure Heim didn't write We Disappear with the genre of mystery in mind. He set out to write a good novel and, luckily, those of us who like a good mystery have benefited.

Note: I've just finished and fallen in love with Jennifer McMahon's Island of Lost Girls. This coming-of-age novel has all the earmarks of becoming a classic. That it's also a fine murder mystery is an unexpected bonus.

Tell-Tale Heart

2008-04-01T09:52:00.004-04:00

Today we mark the passing of Jules Dassin (1911-2008), Connecticut-born expatriate.
While he will be most remembered for Never on Sunday, I can't help thinking about Rififi, Brute Force, Topkapi and The Naked City. I also remember fondly his short film The Tell-Tale Heart and how, as a child, it fascinated me.
That film put me onto Poe, who sent me to Conan Doyle, which led to my eventual discovery of Christie, Chesterton, Le Fanu, Dickson Carr and a host of others.

A fine romance: part deux

2008-03-31T16:17:00.006-04:00

Back on March 28 I wrote that the Romance Writers of America had nominated some mystery authors and lamented: "Author Hank Phillippi Ryan received two nominations: ... one for Romantic Suspense and one for Best First Book. Sadly, both of Ryan's books, Face Time and Prime Time, currently are listed as Permanently Out of Stock at the publisher. Both books were published less than a year ago. Go figure."

Well, since then Ryan's publisher has discovered that Ryan is a find and will be reissuing both Prime Time and Face Time next fall in anticipation of Air Time, Ryan's third Charlotte McNally mystery, hitting bookshelves in September '09 . Not only that, they will be reissued under Harlequin's MIRA imprint (originally they were available as Next editions).

The news is good for Ryan as the Next titles are fairly disposable (they are even dated with the month and year of issue like a magazine) while MIRA has shelf life attached to it.

According to Ryan, September '10 will bring us Drive Time, so her fans can expect some more romantic mystery for a couple of years.

See, people ... those awards nominations sometimes pay off.

From Russia, with murder

2008-03-30T16:19:00.005-04:00

Those waiting for the next Rostnikov mystery from Stuart M. Kaminsky have until Aug. 8 for People Who Walk in Darkness to be released. But if you still need a Mother Russia fix, keep your eyes open for Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 due out April 29. It is one of those books that are reviewed as "unputdownable," or some such expression and frankly, it was.

Set in Stalinist Russia it follows the political unraveling of Soviet state security officer Leo Demidov who discovers evidence of a serial killer at work, a creature who goes against the promise of true Communist. When he is demoted for voicing his beliefs and deported to a less attractive posting, Demidov discovers that the evidence continues to mount. With state-sponsored threats against his family and a marriage crumbling beneath him, he finds an unexpected allies willing to risk their own lives to help Demidov find the killer.

This is Smith's first thriller and, if this is any indication of what he will be producing in the future, the genre (with all its formulaic film fantasies) has found a new voice, someone who can create characters as fullblown, vulnerable, human beings.

Belles' epoch

2008-03-29T11:44:00.007-04:00

Girls behaving badly is nothing new. The first will probably never be known, but certainly the first recorded example appeared in a 1941 edition of Lilliput magazine. It marked the beginning of a decade-long series of St. Trinian's cartoons by Ronald Searle.

His cartoons suggested that, contrary to popular belief, English school girls were not as proper as they were touted to be. Searle's girls were cigarette-smoking, gin-guzzling hellraisers who could wield a field hockey stick with the deadly force of a police trunchant. Being a teacher at St. Trinian's was a far more dangerous career move than being appointed the new Master of the Dark Arts at Hogwarts.

Searle's appallingly appealing belles are now collected in St. Trinian's: The Entire Appalling Business (Overlook Press $29.95). The darkly comic collection chronicles the vices of boarding school young women in the only way Searle knew how: a whirlwind of lines evoking merry mischief.

Searle's horrid little girls captured all "isms" the English feared were being taught to young ladies behind boarding school gates: feminism, lesbianism and anarchism; some cartoons portrayed the students as downright demonic. But the mayhem so delighted the general public that the first St. Trinian's collection appeared in 1947. That collection resulted in St. Trinian's novels and later St. Trinian's movies (Note: St. Trinian's, a film starring Rupert Everett and Colin Firth was released in the UK in 2007).

But Searle's found that St. Trinian's was overshadowing everything else he did, and the Establishment began blaming his cartoons for inspiring real mayhem in schools.

Searle ended the series by having the school evaporated by an A-bomb. To accompany the end of an era, C. Day Lewis wrote "A Short Dirge for St Trinian's" in which he said: "Though St Trinian's lies in ruins, the St Trinian's spirit will arise from her ashes, like a vulture from the feast."

More than half a century later, the belles of St. Trinian's continue their glorious, criminous behavior.

Now let us all sing:
Whack it up, girls! Bung the ball
Thro' Life's goalposts at the call.
Who can stay the Island Blood?
Rub their bustles in the mud!
Gallant hearts and bulldog pans,
Floreat St Trinian's!
(from The Terror of St. Trinian's by Timothy Shy)

A fine romance

2008-03-28T10:20:00.007-04:00

Romance Writers of America has announced its nominees for its annual RITA Awards. The golden statuette named after RWA's first president, Rita Clay Estrada, is awarded in a number of categories. What we are concerned with here are the Romantic Suspense Finalists. They are:

2008 RITA for Romantic Suspense Finalists
Die for Me by Karen Rose
Grand Central Publishing, Vision - (0446616915)
Karen Kosztolnyik, editor
Ice Blue by Anne Stuart
Harlequin Enterprises, MIRA - (0778324788)
Margaret O'Neil Marbury, editor
Ice Storm by Anne Stuart
Harlequin Enterprises, MIRA - (0778325008)
Margaret O'Neil Marbury, editor
Prime Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan
Harlequin Enterprises, Harlequin NEXT - (9780373881352)
Ann Leslie Tuttle, editor
Speak No Evil by Allison Brennan
Ballantine - (9780345495020)
Charlotte Herscher, editor
Traceless by Debra Webb
St. Martin's Press, - (0312942222)
Jennifer Weis, editor
White Heat by Cherry Adair
Ballantine/Ivy, - (978-0-345-47644-9)
Charlotte Herscher, editor

What I find so fascinating about this list is that not only are the publishers and ISBNs listed but the editor of each book is named. The editor? To hear some big-name writers tell it, their books come out full blown masterpieces -- editors have nothing to do with it. That the RWA acknowledges the writer's need for a good editor is worth an award in itself for the RWA.

Special note: Author Hank Phillippi Ryan received two nominations: the one for Romantic Suspense and one for Best First Book. Sadly, both of Ryan's books, Face Time and Prime Time, currently are listed as Permanently Out of Stock at the publisher. Both books were published less than a year ago. Go figure.

For all the nominations, go to: http://www.rwanational.org/cs/2008_rita_finalists

M

2008-03-27T16:01:00.005-04:00

Those of us who love Peter Lorre and his deranged pedophile from Fritz Lang's M where probably horrified to discover that it was being turned into a graphic novel. What were they thinking?
Turns out that Abrams publishers was thinking smart, as even a cursory look at M by John J. Muth shows.
Muth has illustrated a host of children's books, including The Three Questions, Stone Soup, Zen Shorts and Come On, Rain!, the last winning a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators. And if you familiar with Caroline Kennedy's A Family of Poems, you've seen Muth's work.
And M is not new. Muth originally created it in 1990 in a series of four comic books for Eclipse (since out of business). Here the four books are collected in a hardcover edition from remastered negatives of Muth's original work.
Muth first photographed his scenes using family and friends to play the parts, shooting it in his hometown of Cincinnati. The photos were then treated with different techniques -- drawing in silverpoint and graphite and adding color to enhance certain objects or scenes.
For those who don't know the original film, it was Fritz Lang's first sound film, and it dealt with a pedophile hunted by the police and brought to trial by the forces of the Berlin underworld.
Muth's artwork, while shot in period costume, imbues M with a contemporary feel. He brings his pictures upclose and personal. You feel implicated in the crimes.
M is a beautifully disturbing work.

Shelf awareness

2008-03-25T18:19:00.003-04:00

It's a big day for mystery lovers of all stripes as a host of new titles are now on sale. In no particular order:
Compulsion by Jonathan Kellerman features the return of Alex Delaware who teams up with LAPD detective Milo Sturges on a hunt for a killer who has a penchant for black automobiles. We meet hookers, commodities brokers and a missing school girl. It's number 22 in the dependable series.
Speaking of dependable series, Thomas Pitt is on the case in Anne Perry's Buckingham Palace Gardens. When the body of a mutilated prostitute is found in a cupboard in Buckingham Palace, Pitt is called in to stave off scandal; seems that the prince of Wales was hosting a stag party, and none of this looks good for his succession to the throne. This is the 25th in the series with more to come.
Hollywood Nate Weiss and Bix Ramstead go out for a little fun and come up with a heap of trouble in Joseph Wambaugh's Hollywood Crows. There's a femme fatale, a seedy nightclub owner and plenty of gallows humor; pretty much what you'd expect from Wambaugh in this followup to Hollywood Station.
Carolyn Hart offers more Death On Demand in Death Walked In, in which Annie Darling comforts a dying shooting victim and Max joins her to find the killer(s).
For those who like their settings Southern, their atmosphere light and their protagonist cantankerous, Anne B. Ross offers a hearty helping of each in Miss Julia Paints the Town. Here you'll get missing husbands, mysterious visions and a host of eccentrics in this eighth outing of Julia Springer Murdoch and friends.
Those seeking a bit of romantic suspense and some otherworldly doings can check out Heather Graham's Death Dealer, her sequel to the bestseller, The Dead Room. There's nothing like a crazed serial killer inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's stories and a high body count to keep you reading into the wee hours.
Available in paperback: Bad Luck and Trouble, the 11th Jack Reacher novel from Lee Child, is out and anyone who read it will tell you that not only is Jack back but he's got some great banter, a host of villains and a knockout ending.

The future is looking bright

2008-03-24T10:23:00.004-04:00

Anglophiles among mystery readers got some good news recently.

The March 17 edition of Publishers' Weekly announced that Anne Perry had just penned an agreement with Random House to deliver four more mysteries. There will be two new Thomas and Charoltte Pitt books (that will bring the total to 27) and two new William Monk titles (bringing that series up to 18 titles). But they won't show up until after Perry's The Sheen on the Silk, a stand-alone due out in 2010.

Meanwhile, I was trolling the U.K. bookwebs and found something that really excited me. After nearly a decade away, John Harvey's latest novel Cold In Hand brings back D.I. Charlie Resnick. What could be better? Now that the early Resnick's have found a champion in Bloody Brits (four Resnicks already reissued with the rest to come), Cold In Hand will be published here in the States in September, the same month we get a reissue of Easy Meat (let's hope we see Last Rites soon) and a week before Gone to Ground hits paperback.

Life is good.

Strand-ed

2008-03-22T10:18:00.003-04:00

Nominees for the Strand Magazine Critics Award have been announced. They are:

Best Novel
Down River by John Hart (St Martin’s Minotaur)
The Shotgun Rule by Charlie Huston (Ballantine Books)
The Strangler by William Landay (Delacorte Press)
The Watchman by Robert Crais (Simon and Schuster)
What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman (William Morrow)

Best First Novel
The Blade Itself by Marcus Sakey (St. Martin's Minotaur)
In the Woods by Tana French (Viking)
The Mark by Jason Pinter (Mira Books)
Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell (William Morrow)
When One Man Dies by Dave White (Crown Publishing)

Awards will be presented July 9. For more information, go to:
http://www.strandmag.com/

Size doesn't matter

2008-03-21T14:49:00.008-04:00

Size doesn't matter, at least where good writing is concerned. That's why short stories are so popular among mystery fans.

This year's Agatha Awards has nominated four stories and each can be found online for your perusal. Simply click on the links and enjoy.

Donna Andrews, "A Rat's Tale"
http://www.themysteryplace.com/eqmm/excerpts/excerpt1.shtml

Rhys Bowen, "Please Watch Your Step"
http://home.comcast.net/~rhysbowen/pleasewatch.html

Nan Higginson, "Casino Gamble"
http://homepage.mac.com/adept/CasinoGambleMNYS.pdf

Elizabeth Zelvin, "Death Will Clean Your Closet"
http://www.elizabethzelvin.com/PDF/DeathWillCleanYourCloset.pdf

The thrill of it all

2008-03-20T20:21:00.003-04:00

International Thrillers Writers has announced nominees for this year's Thrillerfest.

Here are the nominees:

BEST NOVEL
No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay (Bantam)
The Watchman by Robert Crais (Simon & Schuster)
The Ghost by Robert Harris (Simon & Schuster)
The Crime Writer by Gregg Hurwitz (Viking)
Trouble by Jesse Kellerman (Putnam)

BEST FIRST NOVEL
Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell (Dutton)
Big City, Bad Blood by Sean Chercover (William Morrow)
From the Depths by Gerry Doyle (McBook Press)
Volk's Game by Brent Ghelfi (Henry Holt and Co.)
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (William Morrow)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL 2008
The Last Nightingale by Anthony Flacco (Ballantine)
A Thousand Bones by P.J. Parrish (Pocket)
The Midnight Road by Tom Piccirilli (Bantam)
The Queen of Bedlam by Robert McCammon (Pocket)
Shattered by Jay Bonansinga (Pinnacle)

Interestingly, Harris' The Ghost seemed to fly under the radar of the reading public. Maybe this nod will cause some to give it a closer look.

For more information, go to: http://www.thrillerwriters.org/thrillerfest/

Lambda Literary mystery finalists

2008-03-20T17:43:00.003-04:00

The 20th annual Lambda Literary Awards finalists have been announced and, happily, they have a mystery category.

This year's finalists are:

WOMEN'S MYSTERY
Wall of Silence, 2nd Ed., Gabrielle Goldsby (Bold Strokes Books)
Mortal Groove, Ellen Hart (St. Martin's Press)
In the Name of the Father, Gerri Hill (Bella Books)
Selective Memory, Jennifer L. Jordan (Spinsters Ink)
Laura's War, Ursula Steck (Bella Books)

MEN's MYSTERY
Double Abduction, Chris Beakey (J. Boylston/ ibooks, Inc.)
Stain of the Berry, Anthony Bidulka (Insomniac Press)
Pierce, Roberto Ferrari (Haworth)
Murder in the Rue Chartres, Greg Herren (Alyson Books)
Mahu Surfer, Neil Plakcy (Alyson Books)
Drag Queen in the Court of Death, Caro Soles (Haworth)

Good luck to all.

For more information, go to: http://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards/current_finalists.html

What's cooking

2008-03-19T14:05:00.004-04:00

Berkley Prime Crime has just published the first of a new bookstore series, Lorna Barrett's Murder is Binding. And while I'm not immediately drawn to books illustrated with a cat on the cover and a blurb that states "Includes Recipes," I always give them a cursory look just to get the flavor of book.

Imbedded in the copyright page is the following:

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book.

I can only wonder whether a recipe book should have that warning. Or if murder mysteries should state: The murder techniques and alibis used in the perpetration of the crimes in this book are fictional. Criminals should consult their lawyer prior to the commission of a crime. The publisher is not repsonsible for the reader getting caught attempting a similar crime.

I guess we do live in a litigious society.

What are publishers thinking (...if at all)?

2008-03-07T17:58:00.006-05:00

When I first began putting together my list of the authors I wanted to carry in my store, the list was clear. Along with Chandler, Hammett, Christie and Sayers, I had written in names like Nicholas Blake, Ellery Queen and Cyril Hare.

Little did I know that many of them had gone completely out of print or were, in poultry terms, as scarce as hen's teeth.

Here is a short list of some titles currently out of print:
The Beast Must Die by Nicholas Blake: Written under a pseudonym by poet Cecil Day-Lewis (yep, Daniel's daddy), it is among the series of Nigel Strangeways novels that boast great plots and wit. Beast ... and Smiler with a Knife are two classics languishing somewhere in publisher's limbo.

The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr: Does anyone remember Gideon Fell? It would appear that few responsible with keeping good mysteries in print, do. Well, that's finally about to change. Kudos to Rue Morgue Press for bringing back The Crooked Hinge back into print later this month and Carter Dickson's (aka John Dickson Carr's) The Judas Window along with it. Now, if we could just have The Hollow Man again.

Ellery Queen: Most of Ellery Queen is gone. Okay, we do have Thunder Mouth's The Hollywood Murders which contain three Queen cases -- The Devil to Pay, The Four of Hearts, and The Origin of Evil. But where is The Greek Coffin Mystery, and for that matter, where are The Spanish Cape Mystery, The French Powder Mystery, The Chinese Orange Mystery?

No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase: He wrote this tale of abduction, ransom and rape in 1938 and it was a hit. It was a stage play. It was a movie. Try to find it in print.

Of course, I guess you can't expect publishers to keep old books in print. But it doesn't explain why, at least here in the states, these are out of print: King Solomon's Carpet by Barbara Vine (1990), Popcorn by Ben Elton (1996), The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale (2001) and Mr. White's Confession by Robert Clark (1999). The first two won the Crime Writers Association's Golden Dagger, the latter two won the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award.

Pitiful. Just pitiful.

Agatha Awards shortlist announced

2008-02-27T07:55:00.007-05:00

For those who like their malice domestic, here are the nominations for the Agathas:

Best Novel
The Penguin Who Knew Too Much, by Donna Andrews (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Her Royal Spyness, by Rhys Bowen (Penguin Group)
Hard Row, by Margaret Maron (Grand Central Publishing)
A Fatal Grace, by Louise Penny (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Murder With Reservations, by Elaine Viets (NAL)

Best First Novel
A Beautiful Blue Death, by Charles Finch ( St. Martin 's Minotaur)
A Real Basket Case, by Beth Groundwater (Five Star)
Silent In The Grave, by Deanna Raybourn (Mira)
Prime Time, by Hank Phillipi Ryan (Harlequin)

Best Nonfiction
Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life In Letters, by Charles Foley, Jon Lellenberg and Daniel Stashower (Penguin Press)
The Official Nancy Drew Handbook, by Penny Warner (Quirck Productions)

Best Short Story
"A Rat's Tale", by Donna Andrews (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Sept/Oct, 2007)
"Please Watch Your Step", by Rhys Bowen (The Strand, Spring, 2007)
"Casino Gamble", by Nan Higginson (Murder New York Style, L & L Dreamspell)
"Popping Round To The Post", by Peter Lovesey (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, November, 2007)
"Death Will Clean Your Closet", by Elizabeth Zelvin (Murder New York Style, L & L Dreamspell)

Best Children's/Young Adult
A Light In The Cellar, by Sarah Masters Buckey (American Girl)
Bravo Zulu, Samantha!, by Kathleen Benner Duble (Peachtree Publishers)
Cover-Up: Mystery At The Super Bowl, by John Feinstein (Knopf)
The Falconer's Knot, by Mary Hoffman (Bloomsbury USA Children's Books)
Theodosia And The Serpents Of Chaos, by R.L. LaFevers (Houghton Mifflin)

The Agathas will be presented at the Malice Domestic XX banquet on April 26, 2008 being held at Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel, Arlington, Virginia. The annual convention of cozy authors takes place April 25-27 and will feature special awards for Lindsey Davis, Charlaine Harris and Peter Lovesey; Toastmaster will be Dan Stashower.

For information, go to: http://www.malicedomestic.org/

More March madness

2008-02-20T13:20:00.009-05:00

Maybe it's because I'm tired of all the lousy weather or the fact that it's Leap Year, but I continually think about March and what it will bring.

Yesterday, I was thinking St. Patrick's Day and that, of course, led me to Irish mysteries. What would I suggest for a suitable (or unsuitable) tribute to the snake driver?

First, there's Christine Falls, Benjamin Black's '50s era Dublin noir featuring Quirke, a larger -than-life pathologist out to discover how the eponymous woman met her death and what happened to her child. Things get murkier for Quirke as he indulges too much at his favorite pub and endures pressure from within his family and from without. A great read whether you like mysteries or not. Upcoming is The Silver Swan, a sequel also featuring Quirke.

Some of my favorite Ireland-centric mysteries are the series about Chief Inspector Peter McGarr, written by Bartholomew Gill. Through the years Gill has given us a continually well- written series, including Death in Dublin, The Death of an Irish Tradition, The Death of an Irish Lass, The Death of an Irish Consul and The Death of an Irish Lover, to name a few. You don't see these books around much, but they are still in print and that's a blessing.

For historical mysteries, I don't have to go any further than Peter Tremayne whose 7th century tales of Sister Fidelma has been delighting readers for a decade. In the latest entry, A Prayer for the Damned, Fidelma of Cashel and Eadulf are preparing for their upcoming nuptials when a murder of a fanatical abbott puts the on one of the wedding guests.

And, of course, you can't get more Irish than Ken Bruen's Priest in which Father Joyce is decapitated in the confessional of a Galway church. And we can expect more Galway mayhem come March with Cross, which brings protagonist Jack Taylor face-to-face with another horrific case.

And while you're at it take a look at Dublin Noir: The Celtic Tiger vs. the Ugly American, in which Ken Bruen edits works set in Dublin by authors Eoin Colfer, Jason Starr, Laura Lippman, Olen Steinhauer, Peter Spiegelman, kevin Wignall, Jim Fusilli, Charlie Stella, Ray Banks and others. It's sort of a hands-across-the-Irish-Sea collection of short stories all set in the city of sweet Molly Malone.

Writers I'd like to see back in print: Gemma O'Connor, who's mystery novels Following the Wake and Walking on Water, are nowhere to be found.

March madness

2008-02-17T14:10:00.011-05:00

Here we are just past St. Valentine's Day and I am looking forward with anticipation to March. Not that I long for what we in Vermont call Mud Season (although a little thaw would be nice). No, it's a time when new titles will be added to the shelf, and that is reason to celebrate.

As a fan of British short-story writing, I'm looking forward to The Mammoth Book of Best British Mysteries, a new collection of stories edited by Maxim Jakubowski. This latest gathering of British mystery writers includes new stories by the creme de la crime with newly told tales by Mark Billingham, Lee Child, Val McDermid, Len Deighton, Colin Dexter, John Harvey and two dozen other practitioners of mayhem.

Vertical Inc., which gave us Keigo Higashino's Naoka several years back will be issuing the first English translation of his Malice. It looks to be a twisted tale in which a bestselling author is murdered and a fellow author immediately confesses to the crime. But with Higashino nothing is obvious and, if nothing else, it should prove to be a real brain teaser. Also from Verical Inc. comes Kenzo Kitakata's City of Refuge in which a man and a kidnapped boy are being pursued by the yakuza and by Detective Takagi, in this paperback original. Other Kenzo books include Ashes, Winter Sleep and The Cage. And one more from Vertical, this time by Seicho Matsumoto comes Pro Bono, in which a high-priced lawyer tells a young woman he cannot help defend her brother; the young woman decides to get some revenge. Matsumoto is an award-winning novelist and author of Inspector Imanishi Investigates.

Next to Victorian England where everything is genteel and aboveboard. Or is it? Blockbuster writer Anne Perry brings back Thomas Pitt in Buckingham Palace Gardens. In this case Pitt is called in to solve a murder of a woman at a stag party thrown by Edward, Prince of Wales.

And let's not forget 19th Century Europe. I'm looking forward to a first novel by Michael Gregorio titled Critique of Criminal Reason. Sounds boring, you say? How's this for a plot: Arriving in the city of Königsberg to help solve a strange series of murders, young detective Hanno Stiffeniis joins forces with his mentor, philosopher Immanuel Kant, to track down the serial killer terrorizing the city. Prussia, it would seem, is as good a place to get bumped off as any and the novel is coming out in paperback from Griffin. Meanwhile, the followup to this novel, Days of Atonement (from Minatour), introduces Stiffeniis to the murder of three children and the disappearance of their mother. Fans of Ruth Rendell and Minette Walters should look to both books if they crave detective work coupled with psychological insight.

For those of us who just can't get enough mysteries featuring castrati, soprano Tito Amato returns for a fourth mystery in The Iron Tongue of Midnight. Author Beverle Graves Myers, who first introduced us to Tito in Interrupted Aria, returns to the rarified world of Venetian Opera. This book, like the three before it, will be published by Poison Pen Press.

And if you like your mysteries modern and cozy, Laura Child is back on the scene. Her Dragonwell Dead will be release in paperback by Berkley the same time her latest hardcover The Silver Needle Murder hits the shelves. In this latest adventure Theodosia Browning and her staff are catering a film festival party when a famous director is shot. (Recipes and tea time tips are included.)

And, in a followup to Dry Ice, psychologist Alan Gregory is in a dilemma when his ex-wife contacts him for help in Stephen White's Dead Time. With a first printing of 100,000 copies,
we can only imagine that Dutton has high hopes for White's latest effort.

Playing Mock the Monk

2008-02-12T08:21:00.001-05:00

I watch some TV, usually keeping it to a few shows: Torchwood, Psych, Chuck and Numbers (and Pushing Daisies when I remember its on). While the current season of Monk was written before the writers' strike, the last few shows would have a tough time proving it.

While I don't expect a lot from Psych in the way of mystery (it is, after all, mostly comedy), I do expect Monk with its fine cast to rise above the standards of ... say, Mystery Woman. However, over the last few weeks Monk has lost me. We've had Mr. Monk Joins a Cult (its main clue being a secret door we could never have deduced), Mr. Monk Goes to the Bank (a poor reworking of Murder on the Orient Express, I turned it off half way through the episode), Mr. Monk and the Three Julies (predictable, but a valiant try) and, lord deliver us, Mr. Monk Paints His Masterpiece (my cat solved that one in the first 10 minutes). Even the antics of Tony Shalhoub couldn't save that last one.

I know that doing a mystery series in the constraints of an hour must be difficult, but at least Monk isn't burdened by a rash of guest stars (Howie Mandel, not withstanding) to divert you from the mystery or truly insufferable characters (Jessica Fletcher's nephew Grady comes to mind). It has a solid base of characters that could serve its stories well.

No, Monk's problem is worse; in a stretch to give Shalhoub a chance to strut his stuff as the phobic-ridden detective, the writers have neglected to give the audience well-constructed mysteries. And it is the audience that really counts.

While characters drive a plot in a good mystery series, it would seem as if Monk, in its pursuit to be antic, has forgotten how to be engaging. It has become a family comedy (father Leland, mother Natalie, kid brother Randy, wise uncle Dr. Kroger) in which the nerdy son trips over a new dead body every week. Nerdy Adrian knows something isn't quite right, but leave it to mom and dad ... and sometimes even wise uncle Dr. Kroger ... to doubt him. Haven't they tumbled to the fact that Monk is usually right? Like every sitcom, these characters fail to grow and must learn the same weekly lesson only to forget it in the next episode (unless, of course, remembering it is convenient for a particular plot).

If Monk wants us to believe its characters, it should let them grow. If Monk wants us to believe its plots, someone is going to have to pay more attention to their construction. Either way, if the show doesn't remember its roots in storytelling, one of those dead bodies it encounters will be the show itself.

You're gonna need a bigger boat

2008-02-11T11:45:00.001-05:00

One of the most solid actors to come out of the '70s, Roy Scheider died Sunday at age 75. While he will always be remembered for his role in the 1975 film Jaws, the two movies I most liked were The French Connection and All That Jazz. Both films brought him Oscar nominations, for a best-supporting actor in 1971's The French Connection and for best-actor for 1979's All That Jazz, the Bob Fosse film. A political activist, most recently against the war in Iraq, his voice will be sorely missed.

Black heart

2008-02-08T11:26:00.001-05:00

Loved Christine Falls and can't wait for Quirke to return in The Silver Swan (to be release March 4). Well, author Benjamin Black (aka John Banville) is back in print in the Sunday New York Times. The Sunday serial is called The Lemur and if you want to read it before Picador gets it on the bookshelves in June 2008, all you need to do is to go to: http://www.benjaminblackbooks.com/news.htm and click through to the New York Times pages. The serialization began Jan. 13 and currently three chapters are online with, presumably, more to come.

Booker Man Prize-winner Banville has certainly offered mystery before (The Book of Evidence about a confessed murderer) and an exploration of secrets (The Shroud). What a splendid writer; always intelligent, literate, exciting. And what a surprise that the pseudenonymously penned Christine Falls would bring the award-winning Irish writer the recognition in the States he's deserved for so long.

Something 'Wicked' this way comes

2008-02-06T12:33:00.002-05:00

I'm not one who normally enjoys books with a high body count, let alone gruesomely detailed deaths by torture. I'm from the Agatha Christie Old School: Meet the characters, kill one descretely (preferrably off stage), interview the suspects and then gather them all in a room for the denoument.

I got none of that from Leighton Gage's first effort Blood of the Wicked which, after a body count in the teens (I stopped counting), still was compelled to read it to the end. While it might not be my typical cup of tea, it proved to be a heady brew of mayhem that keeps you riveted. No one in this book is without sin -- not the assassin of a bishop, not the police, not the land owners and not the farm workers.

Set in Brazil, Blood of the Wicked introduces Chief Inspector Mario Silva of the Federal Police and his nephew and partner Hector Costa. Together they investigate the bishop's death, and as the body count increases, the death of a disparate group who may or may not be connected with the initial crime.

Blood of the Wicked is a great start to a new series and Mario Silva, no saint himself, a compelling protagonist. Author Leighton Gage is on tour through March and the Brazilain-based writer (when he's not at home in the Netherlands or Florida) will be an interesting speaker.

For information on Gage's tour (and all other Soho Crime authors), check out Soho Crime's site at http://www.sohopress.com/tours.html Or go to the Events page at http://www.mysteryonmain.com/ for more information.

Screening room

2008-02-04T12:35:00.000-05:00

I was recently asked what my favorite mystery movies were. Anyone who knows me knows my tastes are eclectic and somewhat offbeat. And did favorite mean a list of best mystery movies or merely the ones I liked? Anyway, I decided to make a list; one never knows when someone else will ask and at least I've done the groundwork. First, I figured, I'd have to define mystery, although the very word has vagary about it. I eliminated the Bourne trilogy -- more thrillers than mystery -- but then what was I suppose to do with The Talented Mr. Ripley and Strangers on a Train? There's little mystery there, just some solid filmmaking in the thriller mode.

The only way to make a true mystery movie list was to have a crime in the beginning, a detective (amateur or professional) to go about detecting and a solution, preferrably a surprise. Anything else would make it pure thriller. So, was Psycho a mystery and, since we all knew Kim Novak played both characters, did Vertigo enter into it? In fact, would all of Hitchcock need to be eliminated? And by default, the films of Edgar G. Ulmer(Bluebeard, Strange Illusion, Detour)?Anyway, after much grappling and mind changing, I came up with this list (which, of course, could change when a new movie comes along). And as you'll see also, the criteria went out the window.

Laura (1941) -- Vera Casprey's novel gets a stylish Otto Preminger treatment with Gene Tierney as the titular victim, Dana Andrews as the obsessed 'tec and Clifton Webb as the smarmy newspaperman. Mood, mystery, romantic torture all set to David Raksin's haunting and haunted music.
L.A. Confidential (1997) -- A big bruiser of a movie based on a James Ellroy novel. A brilliant cast (Kim Basinger got a well-deserved supporting Oscar) exposes the criminal underbelly of '50s Hollywood. There's corruption, blackmail, shootouts and torture in Curtis Hanson's literate thriller.
The Maltese Falcon (1941) -- The John Huston classic about a hard-drinking P.I. trying to find the murderer of his partner and an elusive statuette of a black bird. A class act from start to finish with some great characters, writing (Huston from Hammett) and a stylish look.
Memento (2001) -- Leonard Shelby's (Guy Pearce) life is seen in reverse as his quest for revenge is hampered by a debilitating memory loss. A gimmicky wonder kept vital by Pearce and Christopher Nolan's tight script and direction. Don't think about it; just follow Leonard down the rabbit hole.
Murder on the Orient Express (1974) -- A leisurely trip into classic Christie country as Hercule Poirot (an unrecognizable Albert Finney) unravels the death of an American millionaire. An all-star cast (Ingrid Bergman won a supporting Oscar) and a witty script prove a winning combination under Sidney Lumet's direction.
Out of the Past (1947) -- One of my favorite films of all-time. Classic Robert Mitchum anti-hero stuff: A retired P.I. who's changed his identity is rediscovered by a merchant of menace (Kirk Douglas) in search of the double-crossing moll who stole his money. Directed by Jocquest Tourneur and enhanced by cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca.
Shadow of a Doubt (1943) -- Charlie (Teresa Wright) has a soulmate in her Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotton) who is not all he seems. Wonderful tension, great performances and Hitchcock at the top of his game.
The Stuntman (1980) -- No one I know agrees with me, but I love this tale of a convict on the run and the Svengali-like director who takes him under his wing. Great performances and off-the-wall wit. A sinister comedy where reality and fantasy meet.
The 39 Steps (1935) -- A handcuffed Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll cross the heath pursued by spies and police in this crackling Hitchcock concoction via John Buchan. This 1935 film set the standard that later Hitchcock films followed.
The Woman in the Window (1944) -- A mild man (Edward G. Robinson) kills a man in self-defense and is caught in a web of blackmail and more murder. Fritz Lang's masterful direction and Nunnally Johnson's thrilling screenplay get a bolster from Arthur Lange's music. A claustrophic suspense yarn.

Wait. Did I leave out The Thin Man, Anatomy of a Murder, Chinatown, The Big Sleep, Bad Day at Black Rock, Shallow Grave, Heat, The Usual Suspects, Detour, Frantic, The Player, A Double Life?

I guess I'll have to make another list.

We Disappear

2008-02-03T11:32:00.001-05:00

It's not out in bookstores until next month, but I need to talk about it now.

Scott Heim, author of Mysterious Skin, has a new novel on the way -- We Disappear. While it falls outside the traditional mystery genre, there is so much here to like and the mystery, a case of recovered memory and its consequences, is a brilliant piece of writing.

When a drug-addicted son returns home to care for his cancer-ridden mother, a body turns up in a nearby field, bringing with it a flood of memories. It sends the pair in search of the couple who kidnapped the mother years earlier. But is the mother telling the truth. As she retells her story, facts vary and those in her life begin to doubt her state of mind. Then ... it gets really freaky.

As always, Heim writes from the heart and, as his two protagonists crawl painfully toward the redemption that knowledge can bring, his well-honed language etches a portrait of doubt and despair.

Heim's earlier novel Mysterious Skin became the basis for the award-winning 2005 movie, a film that stays with you.

And speaking of movies, Heim has made his own: a trailer for We Disappear. It evokes the sense of loss and melancholy of the book while giving nothing away plotwise. Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8Xl3TKx7mw

February feast

2008-02-01T16:45:00.001-05:00

It's dark, it's dreary, it's February but there's hope in this month's new mystery releases.

Dropping into bookstores Tuesday is Stranger in Paradise, the new Robert B. Parker Jesse Stone mystery. While Stone has never become as popular as Spenser, Parker's books usually offer a cracking good read and Jesse Stone should deliver. Hitting stores the same day is James Patterson's not-for-the-numerically-challenged 7th Heaven, making that the, uh ... seventh in the Women's Murder Club series. (Note: We'd like Sue Grafton to team up at the end of her series with Janet Evanovich to write Z is for Zero, putting Kinsey Millhone and Stephanie Plum on the same case. We can dream, can't we?)

Among the books ready for release in the coming weeks are: Death of a Gentle Lady, the new Hamish Macbeth tale from M.C. Beaton; Martha Grimes' Dakota, featuring amnesiac waitress Andi Oliver being stalked by a killer; and Slip of the Knife, the new Denise Mina mystery about a journalist who discovers a suitcase filled with notes left behind by her murdered reporter boyfriend. All three are available next week.

Later in the month we get Old Red and Big Red back on the murder trail in The Black Dove as they do some "detectifying" in turn-of-the-last-century's San Francisco Chinatown. Author Steve Hockensmith has certainly turned the Sherlock Holmes pastiche on its ear with this way-out-West series. Previous entries (Holmes on the Range and On the Wrong Track) are currently available in trade paperback.

Further (or is it farther?) along this month (February 19 is the street date) we get Amerotke, chief judge of the Halls of Two Truths, looking into the death of some scribes in ancient Egypt in P.C. Doherty's The Poisoner of Ptah. Also on the 19th comes mid-21st century murder in J.D. Robb's Strangers in Death, with Eve Dallas on the case once again. Also on that day (be still my heart) comes the new Maise Dobbs mystery An Incomplete Revenge. Jacqueline Winspear follows Maise into a tiny village where petty theft and strange occurances lead her into danger.

Late in February comes Nancy Atherton's not-quite-dead Aunt Dimity in Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter (Aunt Dimity Goes West is now in paperback).

To round out the month there's Criminal Paradise by Steven M. Thomas and A Flaw of Blood by Stephanie Barron (ARCs please!).

And let's not forget that this month brings with it Valentine's Day. It would be criminal not to add a little mystery to his/her life.

Bryant and May mysteries

2008-02-01T10:20:00.001-05:00

How could I have missed this series? And why didn't anyone tell me about it?
Actually, one of my customers recommended Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler as a fun read and I decided to give it a go. And what a charmingly eccentric series it is.
Fowler's' earlier books were firmly planted in the fantasy/horror genre but, as he matured, that style easily translated into the idiosyntric tales of Bryant and May, investigators for London's Peculiar Crimes Unit. The first tale, the aforementioned Full Dark House, smacks too much of The Phantom of the Opera, but it is riddled with humor and humanity.
The second book in the series, The Water Room, gave me just what a look for in a mystery: an unsolvable puzzle (by me, that is), great characters and an introduction information I never would have thought I'd be interested in, in this case the lost rivers of London. Drenched in unease and black humor, Fowler seamlessly blends tones of comedy and mayhem.
With Seventy Seven Clocks, The Ten-Second Staircase and The White Corridor still on my shelf (and The Victoria Vanishes on the horizon, due in August here in the U.S.), I will be enjoying Bryant and May novels for quite a while.

Bloody Brits

2008-01-31T17:21:00.001-05:00

Let's hear it for Bloody Brits press. Under the watchful eye of author Val McDermid (she gave us the books that Wire in the TV show Blood is based on) the press is bringing great British authors to America. In addition to publishing works by Chaz Brenchley, Ann Cleeves, Sarah Diamond and a host of others, Bloody Brits has begun reissuing John Harvey's Charles Resnick series. The first in the series, Lovely Hearts, was named one of the top mysteries of the century by the London Times and was reissued late last fall. Just off the presses are Rough Treatment and Cutting Edge; coming soon is Off Minor. These modern-day urban police procedurals are among the best there are. If you haven't met Resnick and his team, you've been given a second chance. Don't miss it this time.
Speaking of John Harvey: Gone to Ground, his new police procedural, is currently in hardcover from Harcourt. A new detective, Will Grayson, and his partner Helen Walker investigate the death of a gay academic who was writing a book on a '50s film star. When the body turns up and the writer's computer is misssing, the detectives suspect that the film star must be involved.